Simon S. Laurie - John Amos Comenius, Bishop of the Moravians, his Life and Educational Works, 1895 by gnosisclassics

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JOHN AMOS COMENIUS BISHOP OF THE MORAVIANS

HIS LIFE

AND EDUCATIONAL WORKS

BY S.

LAURIE,

A.M., LL.D.

PROFESSOR OF THE INSTITUTES AND HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH .

FOURTH EDITION.

}

PRESS.

Cambridge PUINTED BY J. & C.

CLAY,

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Annex

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. IN issuing the second edition of occurs to

say that

this

book

possible that a

mind examining any one of Comenius's writings might here and there take exception to critical

statement of his opinions.

therefore

necessary to explain that wherever the opinions

expressed by Comenius in any of his Treatises was

subsequently modified,

For the

rest, I

the preface to the

first

the most complete

have given his

final views.

stated in

edition, that this

book

far as I know the only account of Comenius and his works that

complete exists

can only repeat what

any language.

have gone carefully

through the four volumes of his didactic writings, containing 2271 indifferent.

treatises

pages of Latin, good, bad, and

The German

translation of

has also been before me.

written, like the

rest of the

a collation of original

endeavour

give

one of the

The

life

book, entirely from

sources

;

account

but of

do not

Comenius's

ecclesiastical relations. It is

not always easy to determine how much voluminous and prolix writer should be

Preface.

given.

There

essential.

endeavoured,

much

and even

fanciful,

been

has

object

fantastic,

suitable

omit

and of

places, to

this

give

manner of thought.

to exhibit the author's

nothing

Comenius that I

have

enough There

much, again, that is now universally accepted education, which I have yet preserved, because

the statement of

essential to a proper

of Comenius's system.

sition

to omit nothing that

expo-

aim has been

characteristic or useful, or

historically important.

The

scholastic

division

with this

habit

division

and

sub-

was inherited by Comenius, and along he had in great force the systematising

impulse of the a German.

German mind, though not

himself

can leave nothing to be under-

stood, but will sometimes imperil his whole theory by insisting on the small as well as the great While following closely the argument of Comenius

have dropped superfluous divisions and distinctions, but wholly to avoid repetition was impractiI

cable.

S. S.

LAURIE.

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. March, 1884. 1

pleasing and lucid sketch of

be found

in Quick's

Comenius and

Edwatiotial Biographies.

his

work

will

CONTENTS. PAGE

INTRODUCTION LIFE OF COMENIUS AN ACCOUNT OF COMENIUS'S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AND WORKS: .

PART

THE GREAT DIDACTIC:

FIRST SECTION

PANSOPHY AND THE AIM OF EDU-

CATION

SECOND SECTION METHOD OF EDUCATION . THIRD SECTION ART OF EDUCATION FOURTH SECTION GENERAL ORGANISATION OF A SCHOOL SYSTEM :

82 102

PART II. THE METHOD OF LANGUAGES PART III. THE TEXT-BOOKS AND THE WAY OF USING THEM .

VESTIBULUM

JANUA ATRIUM

.... .......

Ludus

^~^^

189 191

191

194

Text-Book of Greek

IV.

174

181

Orbis Pictus

PART

155

174

SUBSIDIARY TEXT-BOOKS Schola

138

195

INNER ORGANISATION OF A PAN-

SOPHIC SCHOOL, AND THE INSTRUCTION-

PLAN BRIEF CRITICISM OF COMENIUS'S SYSTEM

INDEX

197 .

216

230

INTRODUCTION. THE REVIVAL OF LETTERS. IT

usual to

date

revival of letters

the

from the

time of Petrarch in Italy (1304-74) and Chaucer in

England (1328-1400), and to find the chief impulse which the movement received from without, in the dispersal of

Greek scholars over Europe

of Constantinople by the Turks in birth of the

a process

1453.

The new

mind of Western and Northern Europe was

similar

intellectual

at the taking

which

that

history of every

repeated in

man who

the

questions and

life and opinion midst of which he has grown up. The mind of Europe was oppressed with a burden of pedantry of form

throws aside the conventionalities of in the

and dogmatism in theology, ritual, philosophy, grammar, and rhetoric. Looking straight at things things of sense and of thought, contemplating those questions which every thoughtful for himself, in a direct

medium

man

has ultimately to answer

way and no longer through the

of mere phrases and formulae, constituted the

essence of the revival.

was

The

regeneration of the

human

almost every department of intellectual and moral activity. It is a mistake however to think spirit

felt in

Introduction.

was any sudden breach of the continuity of in the Revival. There had been an awakEuropean in the time of of education on the subject ening that there

life

Charlemagne

and the

twelfth century

had

University

familiarised

movement of the

men's minds with the

re-discussion of old problems.

Ancient Greek learning

some time been

influencing the leaders of

had

also for

thought through the Latin translations from the Arabic.

This return of the soul of

man

to Reality

the

at-

tempt to penetrate to the truth of things through the hardened crust of verbalism and dogma was, it seems to me, the true characteristic of the revival.

For the

now

dry bones of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, was substituted the living substance of thought,

and the

intel-

lectual gymnastic of the schools gave place to the free

mind once more

play of

contact with nature. realism

The

the realism, that

to bring itself into

striving

revival

was thus a return to

to say, of the thought of

man

exercised directly on the things that pertain to humanity.

The

classical writers of

Greece and

Rome

were, in

those days, almost the sole exponents of the new life, and the alliance in them of truth and felicity of per. ception with beauty of expression so captivated the

minds of the learned men of

all

civilized

countries

they surrendered to them their own individualBeauty of expression was regarded as inseparity. The former able from truth and elevation of thought. that

was held

to be the guarantee of the latter.

ment soon shared the

fate of all enthusiasms.

The moveThe new

form was worshipped as the old had been, and to it the spirit and substance were subordinated. Style became

Introduction. the supreme

object

cessful imitation,

came

of the educated

and

Rome

and suc-

thereafter laborious criticism, be-

the marks of the highest culture.

ancient

class,

The

Greece was somewhat

relation of

similar,

but

himself

with this difference, that the

Roman, being antique mould, brought into literature the contribution of his own vigour and originality. cast in an

When stylists

style

and a wide and various knowledge of

became the ambition of the

cultivated

man,

can readily be understood that the education of boys suffered. The object of schoolmasters being to prepare boys to admire and imitate perfection of form in an ancient tongue, they had for this purpose to fall back

on the old grammatical drill. The chief permanent benefit to youth was an improvement in the text-books^

now taking of epitomes of Logic and Rhetoric baldly

the works of the classical writers themselves

the place

expressed in barbarous Latinity.

would have been strange if, in this spring time, man's, relations to the unseen and eternal had escaped the critiIt

cism of the reawakened soul

accordingly,

find the

names of Wycliffe and Huss conspicuous in the period of Petrarch and Chaucer. When, later, subjects of spiritual interest came fully within the scope of the modern movement, they took

precedence of all others, for concerned the business and touched the heart they as well as of the highest. of the humblest Reform in

religion

introduced

the revival, and to sustained

the

supplied

the

and persistent

element of passion intomotive force necessary

activity.

This introduction

Introduction.

of the element of religious passion marks what

be called the second revival

end of the

at the

may

fifteenth

century.

In the

earlier half of the sixteenth

century the Classical

movement was represented by such men Ludovicus Vives, Erasmus, Budseus, and Sir Thomas

or Humanistic as

More, and the

parallel religious

names of Luther and

by the great Melanchthon the

activity

Calvin.

and theological streams met Luther was unquestionably a Humanist, but it was inevitable that literary

the deeper

spiritual

interests

of which

he was the

guardian should obscure the less urgent and less vital In his followers this claims of learning and culture. result

Men's minds became engrossed

was conspicuous.

with a reconstruction of faith and a reorganisation of

the Church, an enterprise which shook Europe and dis-

turbed the old order to

its

and

may be

ecclesiastical

wars

The

foundations. said

political

have lasted

nearly one hundred and thirty years.

In the History of

Education

important

recognise the existence of the two parallel streams of intellectual

and

spiritual

regeneration.

The

leaders of

both, like the leaders of all great social changes, at

once

bethought themselves of the schools. Their hope was in the young, and hence the reform of Education early

engaged

their attention.

The pure Humanists, on

the one hand, were intent

on the substitution of literary culture for grammatical and logical forms, and cared only for the education of the few; but their

sympathy with the

religious refor-

Introduction.

mation was notorious and they shared the suspicion with which the Protestant Reformers were regarded by the mediaeval Church. To know Greek was to be ex-

posed

to insinuations of heresy.

attitude of hostility

towards the independent activity of the

human mind

was not, however, peculiar to the mediaeval Church; it is to be easily detected in certain forms of Protestant-

Both

ism.

alike are

with suspicion,

found

distrust of

and regard Reason

obscurantist,

not with aversion.

They have a

pro-

Humanity.

The Church Reformers, on

the other hand,

had an

interest in the progress of culture scarcely less sincere

than that of the Humanists, but to this they added compassion for the dense ignorance of the masses of the people.

The human

wherever found, was

soul,

them an object of infinite concern, and, unlike the Humanists, they aimed at universal instruction. The

new form itself

of the old

faith,

was

felt,

could sustain

only on the basis of popular education.

The Re-

formers were educational philanthropists in the truest sense, and hence the people's school is rightly called the child place

of the Reformation.

here,

in illustration

do more than advert

would be out of

of what has been said, to

to Luther's impassioned appeals,

and to Melanchthon's universal

activity

which earned

him the honourable designation of Praeceptor GerTo the same union of the theological with the philanthropic spirit was due the noble scheme of

for

manise.

popular education embodied in the Book of Polity of the

Reformed Church of Scotland, written so

early as 1560.

Introduction.

The

educational aims of the leaders of the Humanistic

and Theological

revival

respectively,

while

not conflict, were thus different both in their

and

important to note this,

they did

and

spirit

are

to scope; understand the history of Schools from the sixteenth for motive causes in century down to our own time it

operation 350 years ago are

While the

literary

aim

their

for

still

active.

Humanists, such as Erasmus, had and this almost exclusively

culture,

through the literatures of Greece and Rome, the theolo-

Humanists, though recognising culture, yet desired

gical

to subordinate

The

at every stage to a religious purpose.

had consequently on their side popular sentiment, because they most truly represented the 'Above all things,' said Luther, 'let popular need. latter

the Scriptures be the chief and the most frequently used

reading-book, both in primary and in high schools.

Holy Scriptures do not bear sway, there I would counsel none to send his child ; for every institu-

Where

the

tion will degenerate exercise.

men

where God's Word

The High

not in daily

Schools ought to send forth

thoroughly versed in the Scriptures to become

bishops heretics,

With

and

all

and

pastors,

this,

liberal,

to stand in the

van against

need be, the whole world.' Luther's views of education were large

the devil, and,

including music, gymnastic, and history, as

well as the languages

and mathematics.

Melanchthon

while urging the pursuit of ancient philosophy in original sources, and of the literatures of Greece

also, its

and Rome,

yet held

by Christian teaching

as the

main

Introduction. end of the

The

So with Valentine Trotzendorf.

school.

and of the English

distinguished friend of Luther

Ascham, John Sturm of Strasburg, whose great classical school was a model for all countries, propounded as his educational aim

a wise and persuasive piety, knowledge,

and purity and elegance of diction.' The Humanistic Protestant schools thus embraced Christian teaching a

vital

part

of their

curriculum, the desire of the

Reformers being always to unite true learning with sound theology. It was this theological humanism (so to

speak)

that

ultimately

gained the day among the

Reformed Churches.

Roman

The

insensible to

Church meanwhile was not the scholastic changes which the modern Catholic

made

spirit

had

Jesuits

was authorised

The new

inevitable. in 1540.

order of the

Their special function

a Church Society was preaching,

confession, '

education, but the last-named chiefly.

this,'

and says

they thought of binding themselves by a special clause in their vows ; and although that was not done,

Ranke,

they

made

the practice of this duty imperative by the

most cogent

rules.

Their most earnest desire was to

In 1626 they had already

gain the rising generation.'

467 Colleges and zealous

and

Protestantism all

learning,

idea,

thirty-six

self-denying

was mainly nay,

Seminaries,

due.

every act of

they yet had open minds

provements.

The

the

labours

While life,

for

best parts of the

the schools of Trotzendorf

and

their

reaction

from

subordinating the

Catholic

educational im-

methods pursued

and Sturm were embodied

Introduction.

8 in

Familiarity with Latin as a

their system.

common

however, rather than with the literature of At the same time, they Latin, was their school aim.

language,

were to

sufficiently

Where

rhetoric

the result

influenced by the Humanistic revival

scholastic barbarism

discard

and

to cultivate style.

style are cultivated for themselves,

a certain discipline of the faculties certainly,

but an absence of the genuine substance of education. There could be no danger to the Church in this; for, with such aims,

expression, not thought,

prime consideration realities

that

;

and

becomes the

only thought about the

of sense or about the products of thought forth original power.

calls

The

itself

Jesuit course in-

cluded Latin and a moderate amount of Greek, with logic

and

rhetoric for the

more advanced

classes.

They

could show as good a curriculum as the public grammar schools of their time, and a much better organisation.

The

of the

superiority

greater freedom of

spirit

Protestant

schools lay in the

which characterised them, and

the greater regard paid to the substance of literature.

The

however, were far in advance of their condown for their teachers a definite

Jesuits,

temporaries in laying educational

method

stiff

and

inelastic certainly,

but yet

Little by little, little at a time, cultivation of memory, thoroughness in a few things, easy and graduated work, and a mild but persistent discipline, were

a method. the

merits

belonging to the Jesuit schools two

years before elsewhere.

hundred

they were practised to any large extent is

not our business here to enter more

largely into the Jesuit system

our object

simply to

Introduction. show

that this religious

Order accepted the Humanistic

movement, under narrow

restrictions certainly, but these

Humanism

not of a kind to render their

Thus

a mere name.

was that on both sides of the great controwhich versy began 350 years ago, and still continues, furnished the prime motive of education ; and so religion it

will ever be,

the religious

although

takes

spirit

invisible

even to

that the

way

itself.

to faith

obedience, the

first

may be

one

side,

veiled as to be it

was recognised

was through obedience, and that of virtues in a true Catholic, can

be secured in two ways the minds of those

possible that the form which

it is

by the

who demand

careful

shaping

education, and by the

equally careful neglect of the intelligence of those

who

can be safely passed by. On the other side, the Humanistic revival was early lost in the more pressing claims

ment

revival, and the genuine permanently survived only in the move-

of the Theological

humane

spirit

to instruct the masses.

The

theological spirit

was that gave the impulse necessary to carry education

down

into the lower strata of society,

the humanity of the people.

and so

competing claims of the two Theologies pure could not sustain

to raise

In the presence of the

Humanism

itself.

Accordingly the scholastic improvements under the influence of Melanchthon and Sturm

effected 1 ,

and, in

England, of Colet, Lillie and Ascham, did not endure, save in a very limited sense. Pure classical literature

was now read, a great gain certainly, but this was all. There was no tradition of method, as was the case J

Sturm died

at the age of 83 in 1589.

io in

Introduction. the Jesuit

of the

and

long,

the complaints

latter

half

made of

the

the state

the waste of time, the barbarous and

schools,

intricate

During the

order.

sixteenth century,

grammar rules, the cruel discipline, were loud and proceeded from men of the highest intel-

It has to be remembered, however, had been embroiled in civil and ecclesiEurope contentions, and that the seeds of popular edu-

lectual standing.

that

all

astical

cation and of an improved secondary system could not possibly have developed

so ungenial.

themselves in an atmosphere Indeed, until the remodelled school code

of Saxony appeared in 1773 the

was clouded.

Two

dawn

full

hundred years were

of promise

Scotland

lost.

alone was during this period busily carrying out, in a truly national sense, the programme of the Reformation

and the Humanists, but

this,

in accordance with

the

genius of Protestantism, mainly on the popular side. But the complaints and demands of men of learning

and piety were not relaxed. To unity in the Reformed Churches they looked, but looked in vain, for a settlement of opinion, and to the school they looked as the sole

hope of the

existed,

Even

might the

future.

have

well

Universities,

The

school,

filled

Aristotelian

Metaphysics, and with them the still

held their own.

Melanchthon had

The

them

with

actually despair.

Physics

and

scholastic philosophy,

reforms initiated mainly by

not, indeed, contemplated the over-

throw of Aristotelianism.

and the other Human-

merely desired to substitute Aristotle himself in the original for the Latin translation from the Arabic

ists

Introduction. (necessarily classics

for

misleading),

and

1 1

Greek

the

and

Latin

These very reforms,

barbarous epitomes.

however, perpetuated the reign of Aristotle, when the spirit that actuated the Reformers was dead and there

had been a relapse into the old scholasticism. The Jesuit reaction, also, which recovered France and South was powerful enough to metaphysical theology of In England, St Thomas Aquinas and the schoolmen. Milton was of opinion that the youth of the Universities for the Papal

Germany

See,

preserve a footing for the

were, even so late as his time,

still

presented with an

These retrogressions in School and University serve to show how exceedingly 'asinine

difficult

feast

of sow-thistles.'

to contrive

it is

any system of education, middle

or upper, which will work of itself pass from the scene.

Hence

when

the contrivers

the importance,

seems

us, every University, part of the a for the philosophical faculty, department exposition of this very question of Education surely a very important

of having in

subject in itself as an academic study, and in relations transcending perhaps

tical

all

and handed down,

prac-

How

and

practice

are the best traditions of educational theory to be preserved

its

others.

those

who

are to

instruct the

youth of the country are to be sent forth to their work from our Universities with minds absolutely vacant as to the principles

profession

and history of

their

they have never been taught to ask them-

selves the questions,

'What am

I going to do?' 'Why?' one worthy of consideration both by the Universities and the State. It was the

and

How ?

This subject

Introduction.

want of Method that led

to the decline of Schools after

the Reformation period;

was the study of Method

which gave the Jesuits the superiority that on many parts of the Continent they still retain. In 1605 there appeared a book which was destined

method on a

to place educational its

although This was

scientific foundation,

not yet, it is true, accomplished. Bacon's Advancement of Learning)

mission

Francis

which was followed, some years later, by the Organon. For some time the thoughts of men had been turning

Bacon represented this movement, and gave it the necessary impulse by his masterly survey of the domain of human knowledge, his pregnant to the study of Nature.

suggestions,

and

his formulation

Bacon was not aware of art of

Education

;

of scientific method.

his relations to the science

and

he praises the Jesuit schools, not know-

ing that he was by his philosophy subverting their very

We know

foundations.

Bacon's teaching.

inductively

that

was the sum of

In the sphere of outer Nature, the quod non prius

scholastic saying, Nihil est in intellectu

fuerit in sensu,

was accepted, but with

this addition, that

the impressions on our senses were not themselves to be trusted.

The mode

of verifying sense-impressions, and

the grounds of valid and necessary inference, had to be investigated tell

how

and is

It is

applied.

we know,

manifest that

follows that the

we can

method of

intellectual instruction is scientifically settled.

But Bacon not only represented the urgent longing and for a new method,

for a co-ordination of the sciences

Introduction.

he also represented the weariness of words, phrases, and vain subtleties which had been gradually growing in strength since the time of Rabelais, Montaigne, Ludovicus Vives,

The

and Erasmus.

poets, also,

had been

placing Nature before the minds of men in a new aspect. The Humanists, as we have said, while unquestionably

improving the aims and procedure of education, had been powerless to prevent the tendency to fall once more under the dominion of words, and to revert to

The

mere form.

which constituted

realism of

human

their raison d'etre,

life

and thought,

had been unable

no school of method. of

sense

scientific

was

that

was the study of the

finally

and make

basis,

was

sustain itself as a principle of action, because there

realities

place education on a

reaction,

method

least, impossible.

The thought the age which

does

not

of any age determines the education of to succeed

it.

Education follows,

The School and

lead.

the

Church

march, in the wake of science, philosophy, and

ideas.

human

see

illustrated

this

and

every

alike

political

epoch

none so conspicuously as in history, the changes which occurred in the philosophy and education of ancient

Cato, and, in

Rome

modern

and the subsequent It

during the lifetime of the elder

times, during the revival of letters rise

of the

Baconian induction.

impossible, indeed, for any great

movement of

thought to find acceptance without its telling to

some

on every department of the body politic. Its influence on 'the ideas entertained as to the education extent

Introduction.

14 of the

generation must

rising

and emphatic.

Every

science has recognised

be,

above

philosophical writer this,

and has

felt

distinct

all,

political

the vast signi-

ficance of the educational system of a country both as

the consequence of a revolution in thought

effect

and

as a cause, a

the future

the

moving

force of incalculable

of a commonwealth.

life

Humanistic movement

the mediaeval

power in was that

preceded and acreligion shook to its

which

companied the Reformation of centre

Thus

school-system

and

Europe;

that subsequently the silent rise of the inductive spirit

subverted

its

foundations.

Bacon, though not himself a Realist in the modern

and abused sense of that term, was the father of Realism. It was this side of his teaching which was greedily seized Educational zeal now The conviction of the Churches of one can make men what one pleases (by

upon, and even exaggerated.

ran

in this channel.

the

time, that

fair

means or

was shared by the innovators. By education, rightly conceived and rightly applied, the enthusiasts dreamed that they could manufacture men, foul),

and, in truth, the Jesuits had shown that a good deal

could be done in failed

see

this direction.

genius of freedom, and that factured

except

sacrifice that

his

which

enthusiasts

man

refuses to be

terms.

his distinctive title to

the

manu-

must

first

manhood

That the prophets of educational

personality.

door as a fault

suicidal is

Realism should have their

The new

that the genius of Protestantism

failed to see this is it

not to be laid at

merely shows that they belonged

Introduction.

own time and not

to their

some

They failed then, as man and his education, The record of the past.

because they break with the past is with them as it was with the Baconian

wisely accepts

human

life

as the storehouse of the thoughts

reason.

In the

individual of the race best finds his is

modern Humanism Yet

foundations

true

Man

each

life.

This

the

earlier

we owe the method, and

century that

educational

life

own

the Realism of thought.

the Sense-realists

of the seventeenth

realists,

The modern Humanist

merely a record of blunders.

and

to ours.

to understand

now,

fail

half

scientific

the

only

indication of the true line of answer to the complaints

of the allied

In their hands

time.

sense-realism

with Protestant Theology, and pure

They were represented

disappeared.

first

became

Humanism

by Wolfgang

von Ratich (Ratke), a native of Holstein, born in 1571. The Ratich was a man of considerable learning. Europe, and the want of harmony, especially among the Churches of the Reformation, led him to consider how a remedy might be found for many distractions

existing evils.

found

thought that the remedy was to be

improved school-system improved in of the substance and method of teaching. both respect In 1612, accordingly, he laid before the Diet of the in

German Empire

at Frankfort

a Memorial in which he

with the help of God, to give instruction for and to the service and welfare of all Christendom

promised,

show 'i.

How

the

Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and other tongues

Introduction.

be taught and learned both by young and old, more thoroughly and in a shorter time.

may '

easily

How, not

tongues,

only in High Dutch, but also in other

school

may be

thorough knowledge of

all

established

which the

Arts and Sciences

may be

learned and propagated. in the whole kingdom, one and the same one and the same government, and, finally, one speech, and the same religion, may be commodiously and

How,

'3.

peacefully maintained.'

speak of Ratich here, not with a view to the

exposition of his system, but merely as the pioneer of

modern inductive

the

Comenius ; and

school,

and

as the predecessor of

leading principles as these are to be

Schmidt and Von Raumer 1.

sum up

will suffice, therefore, to

his

found stated by

in their Histories

Everything according to the order and course of

Nature 1. 2.

Only one thing of a kind

One

thing often repeated

thing, repeating 4.

a time 2 (i.e.

keep

at the

same

often).

Everything in the mother-tongue

first

for in the

mother-tongue resides this advantage, that the pupil has to think only of the thing he has to learn,

and need not

1 The American translation should always be compared with the German e.g. the German of Von Raumer is Alles nach Ordnung '

;

' oder Lauff der Natur, which is translated Everything in or the course of Nature.' Schmidt says und, not oder.

and

The American it

its

order,

translation says 'Only one thing at a time,' equally misses the point elsewhere.

Introduction. trouble

himself with

the

language

Out of the mother-tongue pass

and above.

over

to other tongues.

For by compulsion 5. Everything without violence. and blows one disgusts youth with studies, and causes them to assume an attitude of hostility to them. The must not be

pupil

and hold him

afraid of the teacher, but love him,

in honour,

a result which

will

the teacher rightly discharges his function.

was

in the

be found

(Discipline

hands of a special functionary called the

Scholarch.) 6. Nothing must be learned by rote, for intelligence and acuteness are absent from the pupil who gives him-

self 7.

much

to rote-learning.

Uniformity in

all things,

as well in the

teaching as in the books, rules,

mar of the

etc.,

method of

so that the gram-

much

and then the way of

it.

various languages taught

may be

possible harmonised. 8.

First

a thing in

Matter before form.

itself,

Rules without matter confuse the

understanding. 9.

Everything through experience and the investiga-

tion of particulars.

The motto

of the Ratichians was 'Per inductionem

experimentum omnia?? Ratich's

life

was

practically

succeed in his scholastic work, and to the following causes

(i)

failure.

did not

this is to

be ascribed

His character;

(2) the too

1 Raumer is a prejudiced writer, especially when dealing with Ratich and the 'moderns' (as he calls them) generally.

Introduction.

purely theoretical groundwork of his scheme jealousy and

opposition

application of his instinctive

feeling

own

principles

1635,

;

(3) the

wrong want of that

(4)

(5) his

;

his

the art of teaching, which was

for

conspicuous in his greater died in

others

successor

at the age of

Comenius.

sixty-four.

His scheme

had meanwhile been most favourably received by many learned men, and had attracted the attention of the Princes of Central Europe.

The

University of Giessen

reported favourably on his pretensions, and the Ratichians were by no means a small or uninfluential party the schools and Universities of Europe. In those days some Universities seemed to take an interest in

Education as a possible science. The torch that fell from Ratich's hand was seized, ere it touched the ground, by John Amos Comenius,

who became of

the

the head,

present and

practical,

and

still

school.

Sense-realistic

continues the head,

His

works

and not merely an

speculative, significance.

have

historical

and

AND WORKS OF COMENIUS.

LIFE

JOHN AMOS COMENIUS (Komenski) was born at Nivnitz, a village of Moravia, 1 on the 28th of March 1592. His father was a miller. The family belonged to the sect of Reformed Christians known sometimes as the Bohemian, more generally as the Moravian, Brethren. This sect of Christians has never attained to great dimensions, but

and

zeal

fewness of religious

has been distinguished by an activity

which have given its

it, notwithstanding the a members, conspicuous place among

communions.

Lutherans,

ecclesiastical

Although generally recognised they connect themselves by direct descent with the Bohemian Reformer

Huss, and have always preserved a distinct organisation

At the present day they number, it is about believed, only 5000 communicants in Europe, and 7000 in America. They acknowledge an episcohave little power. but Their chief their bishops pate, of their own.

characteristic

seems always to have been a certain combined with an earnest personal

simplicity of faith,

1 Some say at Comna or Comnia (near Briinn), whence the surname Comnenius or Comenius. The family name was in

German

Topfer,

from Greenwich,

i.e.

lat.

Potter.

Comnia

in long,

about 18

49. Gindely simply says in the vicinity At the University of Heidelberg he was

of Ungarisch-Brod. entered as a native of Nivnitz, a

little

Ungarisch-Brod.

B 2

village about a league

from

Life and Works

2O piety

and a

tion in

practical realisation of the brotherly rela-

which

all

the

members of

common

Christian

Confession ought to stand to one another. Comenius is usually called an Austro-Sclav

;

that

to say, a Sclav born within the sovereignty of Austria.

His family, and he himself consequently, spoke the Bohemian or Czech tongue, which is a West-Sclav dialect, and is considered to be the best of all the Huss may be said to have done for Sclavonic forms. this dialect

what Luther afterwards did

for

German.

The young Comenius was born in troublous times. The European disturbances and complications arising out of the advance which the thought of man had made in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries generally denoted by the terms 'Revival of Letters' and the Reformation of Religion,' or more generally ' the '

had already been in active operation for seventy years, and Comenius was growing old when the Renaissance,'

close of the Thirty after

having made a

Years'

War

great part of

gave Europe peace, it

a desert.

Austria

time the great German power. Prussia had no political existence, while Poland was a large and influential kingdom, including much of what is now

was

at that

Russia.

Comenius's parents died while he was

still

a child, and

he was accordingly handed over to guardians. There appears to have been a little money left by the father

enough to help son.

in the education

and maintenance of the

received, however, only the limited

amount

of instruction obtainable in one of those elementary

of Comenius.

people's schools, which were the fruit of the Reforma-

This amounted to read-

the school of Strassnick.

tion

ing, writing,

a knowledge of the Catechism, and of the

smallest beginnings of arithmetic.

had reached

his

sixteenth year without having entered on the study of

Latin

at that

time

still

the indispensable instrument of

and of international communication among

all literature,

the learned.

are not to conclude from this that his

guardians neglected his education.

The community

which he was an orphan child had to

raise

their

own

instruction,

and

this necessity,

up pastors

for

independently

of other considerations, would have led to the fostering

promise shown by young Comenius. he was a child of slow growth. It

of any boyish It is

probable that

was certainly not to feel

and

he began of a scholar.

his sixteenth year that

till

show a

desire for the

life

There was probably an advantage in this. Unvisited by ambitions which could carry him beyond the narrow

own quiet community, his mind must have had time slowly and surely to imbibe the teachings of the simple Brotherhood to which he belonged, and to limits of his

be thoroughly imbued with their earnest

spirit.

see the effects of this upbringing conspicuous through-

out his whole

life.

Simplicity, zeal, piety, self-sacrifice,

humility, are always present. life

confirms his

own

The whole

of a retiring disposition, had

more of

in his constitution, that the part

and

tenor of his

confession that he was by nature fear than of

hope

of innovator was one

was keenly alive to the fact that those who think they have got some new light

alien to him,

that he

Life and Works

are often merely pursuing ignes fatui. '

adds,

Nor

belong to that class of

I desire to

yet,'

men who

and the customary, spite of the indicaof God Himself, Reason, and Common Sense.' 1

cling to the old tions

Out of the Moravian evangelical soil he grew, and a in heart and soul he remained to the end.

Moravian

It is important to note this. We have already pointed out in the Introduction that the educational motive was

in the

Reformation age

first

and Me-

partly literary or Humanistic, but chiefly

lanchthon, religious

that of Luther

theological

the

second Reformation

Comenius belonged, the intense of opinion between the new and the old faith age, to which

fluence mainly of the Jesuits

element to the

education

wall,

made

Catholicism under the in-

keener by the reaction to

istic

conflict

had driven the Human-

and the theological aim

now almost wholly obscured

the literary.

The

torch of reason, lighted in the schools half a century previously,

was now darkened by the smoke of theoand disastrous wars. Comenius

contentions

logical

was, above evangelical

a genuine representative of the he was not afraid of science far

all things,

spirit;

he endeavoured to unite science and theology, but he did not fairly appreciate Humanism, and

from

accepted the products of the genius of past ages only His eyes were turned to the in a half-hearted way. present and the future.

At sixteen Comenius went, or was sent, to a Latin school, and in 1612, when he was twenty years of age, we find him at the College of Herborn, in the duke1

Lectoribus, vol.

of Comenius.

dom

of Nassau, pursuing his theological studies under

Professor Alsted, afterwards Professor of Theology and

Philosophy at Weissenburg. which he began Latin

the lateness of the age

we probably

owe

partly

Comenius's early insight into the defects of educational

methods.

was old enough

to criticise, while submit-

ting to, the scholastic discipline

and defective modes of

procedure, of which he was, with others, the victim. is

no reason

to believe that his school

There

was worse than

schools elsewhere at that time, and of these he says that '

they are the terror of boys, and the slaughter-houses of places where a hatred of literature

minds, is

contracted, where ten or

more years

and books

are spent in

learning what might be acquired in one, where what

ought to be poured in gently is violently forced in and beaten in, where what ought to be put clearly and is presented in a confused and intricate were a collection of puzzles, places where minds are fed on words.' Well might Professor Lubinus

perspicuously

way, as

if it

of Rostock say that the instruction and discipline of schools seemed to have been the invention of

wicked

the

spirit,

enemy of the human

some

Millibus

ego quoque sum unus, miser amcenissimum vitse ver, florentes juven-

e multis,' he exclaims,

homuncio, cui

race.

nugis scholasticis transmissi, misere perierunt.

tutis anni,

Ah, quoties mihi postquam melius prospicere datum, aetatis

perditae

lacrymas, corde

dolor

pectore

excussit.

suspiria,

mihi praeteritos referat

oculis

Ah, quoties

exclamare coegit

ille '

recordatio,

dolorem

Jupiter annos.'

Life and Works

Before Comenius

left

school, Ratich,

have already spoken, was at work; and

whom we

was

in 1612,

when Comenius was still at Herborn, that the public document issued by the Universities of Jena and commenting on Ratich's proposed innovations, came under his notice. 1 The Ratichian scheme, on

Giessen, first

which specially the University laudation was pronounced, was printed under the following title Wolphgangi Ratichii de Studiorum rectificanda methodo Consilium. :

Comenius was profoundly attracted by the new educamovement.

tional

more spent in travel, during which Amsterdam and studied at Heidelberg,

After a year or

he resided

he returned to his native Moravia in 1614.

now twenty-two

still

Being

too young

he was appointed Rector of the Mo-

for the ministry,

school at

ravian

and being

years of age,

Praerovium

(Prerau),

near Olmiitz,

where he at once endeavoured to introduce improved methods of instruction and a more humane discipline. '

Ten

years,'

Latin tongue, and after

Erasmus,

says,

Vives,

all

Luther,

are given to the study of the

the result

Sturm,

disappointing.

Frisch,

Sanctius,

Domavius, have all complained of this. Boyhood is for years with precepts distracted,' he goes on to say, of grammar, infinitely prolix, perplexed, and obscure, '

and

for the

most part

useless.

Boys are

stuffed with

vocabularies without associating words with things, or

indeed with one another syntactically.' 1

Preface to vol.

Preface to

edition of the

first

Janua

had been

Lingttai~utn.

of Comenius. that the substitution

hoped

for

barbarous Latinity of

good authors, such as Terence, Cicero, Virgil, and Horace the work of the Humanists, would cure the

by teaching boys the Latin tongue by But this had failed, partly purest writers.

universal evil

means of

its

because of the unpropitiousness of the time, but chiefly because the secret of education lies in method, and in

who

the master

to secure either else

but failure

wields

it.

attempt had been

sound method or good masters. could be expected ?

made What

At Prerau Comenius began by simplifying the Latin Grammar, and wrote an elementary book for his pupils, which was afterwards published ( Grammaticae facilioris praecepta), In

this

whether appear.

1618,

Prague in

1616

year he was ordained to the pastorate, but

this

caused him to give up the school does not

He was not appointed to any special charge till

when he was

set over ''the

most

flourishing of all

the churches of the Moravian Brethren, that of Fulneck,'

near Troppau.

Along with his ministerial charge, he had the superintendence of a school recently erected and he now began to consider more fully the subject of ;

and to put his thoughts on paper. 2 Here too he married, and for two or three years spent a happy and active life, enjoying the only period of tranquillity instruction,

in his native

experience.

country which

never ceased to pine during 1

was ever

his fortune to

For the restoration of a time so happy he all his

future wanderings.

Dedication to ScJwla Ludus, vol. Preface to vol. i.

iii.

p. 831.

Life and Works

26 The

Thirty Years'

War broke

out,

and

Fulneck was taken by the Spaniards, and

all

1621

the pro-

Comenius destroyed, including his library and 1 For the next three years Comenius manuscripts. perty of

seems to have resided, along with several other Moravian pastors, under the protection of Karl von Zerotin, a wealthy Moravian, and while

there wrote a

book

The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of Heart, an allegorical writing on the vanity of earthly

entitled the

things.

In 1622 he

1624 he and

lost his wife

his fellow-pastors

and only

child.

were compelled to leave

the protection of Zerotin, and thereafter, evading as best

they could the persecution of the Jesuits, they wandered

through various parts of Moravia and Bohemia, occa-

communities secretly, and preachadministering the Sacraments. In July 1627 the evangelical pastors in Moravia and

sionally visiting their

ing the

Word and

Bohemia were formally proscribed by the Austrian Government, acting under the instigation of the Jesuits. Some took refuge among the Bohemian mountains with

Baron Sadouski von Slaupna.

who took

refuge

Baron intrusted

there

To one

of the pastors

John Stadius by name

his three sons for their education.

the benefit of the tutor, and at his request,

wrote some rules of method.

the

For

Comenius

In the autumn of that

1 Seyffart says that on this occasion he lost also his wife and two children, but Comenius himself does not mention this in his Prei. Seyffart has doubtless other authority for what I confine myself solely to what can be ascertained

face to vol.

says.

collating Comenius's own writings. 2 Printed at Lissa in 1631.

of Comenius. year he paid a

visit to Wilcitz,

library there.

Among

not far

to look at the

off,

the books, he unexpectedly met

with the treatise of Elias Bodinus, recently imported

from Germany, and was fired with the ambition to produce a like work in his own Bohemian tongue. In this ambition he was sustained by the approval, and indeed solicitations, of his fellow-refugees, who were convinced that he

had much

schools

and schoolmasters.

to say that

didactic work, he was disturbed

ing

all

would be of value to

While engaged

by a

new

this

edict requir-

the evangelical pastors to renounce their faith, or

finally leave the country.

ruthlessly destroyed.

Churches and schools were

Comenius from

his retreat

was a

witness from time to time of the acts of the persecutors,

and was overwhelmed with desired to live

grief.

still,

however,

within reach of the brethren of his

community, and did not leave the mountains, where he thought he might possibly escape observation. His active

and

practical

mind began

how he should proceed

once to consider

to restore religion

and

piety

should he ever be free again to work for his native country.

His didactic studies suggested

him

that

the great agency for a future renovation lay in schools, and he consoled himself with this reflection, and with

His sole forming sanguine schemes for the future. desire now was to devote his life entirely to the young, should

please

God

to restore

him

to his country,

and

by the institution of schools, by supplying them with good books, and with a simple and lucid method, to build up,

surely than before, learning, virtue,

and

Life and Works

Meanwhile by secret communications with

piety.

brethren he tried to sustain their sinking persecution, however,

waxed

hotter,

spirits.

and finding

possible longer to continue in his concealment, his

companions Comenius made

visited

on a

im-

he and

dispersing in different directions.

fled,

for Poland,

secret

his

The

which he had once before

mission, having been sent thither

by the Moravian Brethren probably in order to ascerHe tain if they could find an asylum in that country. betook himself to the town of Lesna (Lissa, Leszno), in Posnania, and obtained employment as a teacher in the

Moravian Gymnasium there it.

The Count

the persecuted brethren.

and the

desire to

apparently as Rector of

of Lissa (Rafael) afforded protection to

his

His scholastic engagements,

duty

way, gave a

efficient

fresh impulse to his didactic studies.

began to

re-

construct his methods from the foundation, and to give

them a philosophic basis and a logical coherence. Not only had the general question of Education engaged many minds for a century and more before Comenius

arose, but the apparently subsidiary, yet

all-

important, question of Method, in special relation to the

teaching of the Latin tongue, had occupied the thoughts

and pens of many of the leading scholars of Europe. The whole field of what we now call Secondary Instruction was occupied with the one subject of Latin 1

;

Greek, and

In the Diction naire de Pedagogic his scholastic function is of organiser of the education of the

described as being that

Moravian Colony only. That his duties were of a more general kind is clear from his own writings.

of Comenius.

occasionally Hebrew, having been admitted only in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and then only to a

This of necessity.

subordinate place.

Latin was the

one key to universal learning. To give to boys the possession of this key was all that teachers aimed at until were old enough to study Rhetoric and Logic.

their pupils

these writers on the teaching of Latin, the most

eminent were Sturm, Erasmus, Melanchthon, Lubinus, Vossius, Sanctius (the author of the Minerva), Ritter,

Helvicus,

Bodinus, Valentinus

1 Frenchmen, Ccecilius Frey.

Andreae, and, among Nor were Ascham and

Mulcaster in England the least significant of the critics of Method. Comenius was acquainted with almost all previous writers on education, except probably

and Mulcaster,

whom

he never

alludes.

Ascham

read

everything that he could hear of with a view to find a

method, and he does not appear ever desirous to supersede the

work of

others.

have been If he had

found what he wanted, he would, we believe, have promulgated it, and advocated it as a loyal pupil. That he

owed much

to previous writers

certain; but the prime

work on Latin was

his own. Espedoes he introduce a new epoch in education, by constructing a general methodology which should go beyond mere Latin, and be equally applicable to all

characteristic of his cially

subjects of instruction.

Before bringing his thoughts into definite shape, he 1

Frey published

entitled

Paris

Ad divas scientias,

poraneos nova

1629 an

educational

treatise

artesqne, et linguas sernwnesqjte exteni-

expeditissima \yid\.

Life and Works

3O wrote to

all

the distinguished

obtain access.

men

addressed Ratich,

but received no answer

;

many

whom

he could

among

others,

of his letters also were

returned, because the persons addressed could not be

found. 1

Valentinus Andreae wrote to him in encourag-

ing terms, saying that he gladly passed on the torch to him. His mind became now much agitated by the

importance of the question, and by the excitement of He saw his whole scheme assuming shape discovery.

under

his pen,

and was

filled, like

other zealous men,

before and since, with the highest hopes of the benefits

which he would confer on the whole human race by

discoveries.

Magna,

his

resolved to call his treatise Didactica

Omnes omnia

docendi Artificium.

found

a consolation for his misfortunes in the work of invention,

and even saw the hand of Providence

in the

coincidence

of the overthrow of schools, through persecutions and wars,

and those ideas of a new method which had been

vouchsafed to him, and which he was elaborating. Everything might now be begun anew, and untrammelled by the errors and prejudices of the past. as to a theologian

Some

and pastor being so

scruples

entirely pre-

occupied with educational questions, he had however to overcome. 2

Suffer, I pray, Christian friends, that I

speak confidentially with you for a moment. who know me intimately, know that I am a

moderate 1

ability,

and of almost no

Those

man

learning, but

one

were Sigmund Evenius, Abraham Mencel, Paliurus, Jonston, Mochinger, Docem, George Winkler, Martin Moser, and Niclassius. 2

Among

his correspondents

Lectoribus, vol.

p. 7.

of Comenius.

who, bewailing the evils of his time, is eager to remedy them, if this in any way be granted me to do, either

by my own discoveries or by those of another none of which things can come save from a gracious God. If, then, anything be here found well done, it is not mine, but His, who from the mouths of babes and sucklings hath perfected praise, and who, that He may in verity

show Himself

who who

ask,

faithful, true,

opens to those

seek.

Christ

simple that

and

gracious, gives to those

who knock, and

Lord knows

matters not to

that

offers to those

whether

heart

I teach or

taught, act the part of teacher of teachers, or disciple of

What

disciples.

the

common

the

good.'

Lord has given me I send forth for His deepest conviction was that

the sole hope of healing the dissensions of both Church

proper education of youth. The xexvwv avOptoTTov ajf.iv of Gregory Nazianzen was with him a favourite quotation. At the same time, he

and State lay

in the

Te Xn?

did not profess, as

on the contrary, he

we have truly

said, to

and wisely

tradere operosae molis res

est,

supersede '

says,

all

others

Artem artium

exquisitoque eget judicio;

nee unius hominis sed multorum, quum unus nemo tarn sit oculatus cujus aciem non subterfugiant plurima.'

When

he had completed his Great Didactic, he did it, for he was still hoping to be restored to

not publish his native

Moravia, where he proposed to execute

his philanthropic

schemes

;

indeed, the treatise was

written in his native Sclav or 1

Found

Czech form

Czech tongue. 1

in the archives of Lissa in 1841, in

all first

1849 by a Bohemian Society.

and republished

its

Life and Works

While thus engaged in working out

his theory

and

method of education, Comenius had been searching for some elementary Latin reading-book, which might introduce boys easily to the use of the Latin tongue.

In addition to the defects already universally recognised in the teaching of Latin, Comenius pointed out that, even supposing the usual classical authors were read and mastered, a boy would not then know the

Latin words expressing the things and ideas of his own Finally, if so much time is to be spent on the

time.

language alone,' he says, 'when

when

about things religion,

will

and so forth?

the

boy

know

he learn philosophy, when He will consume his life in

Some epitome of the language is life.' wanted, in which the words and phrases will be reduced preparing for

one body, as it were, and in this way much time saved in acquiring them. For, as Isaac Habrecht truly to know all the animals of the learn would one said, to

world more quickly by visiting Noah's ark than by traversing the world and picking up knowledge as we went.

To meet

this

want, a

member

of the Irish College of

Salamanca (Bateus by name) had written a Janua Linguarum, comprising in one lesson-book all the more usual words,

and these connected

into sentences so

no vocable occurred more than once, except such indispensable words as sum, et, in, etc. This book was in Latin-Spanish, and was shortly after, constructed that

in 1615, published in Latin- English in

years after Isaac

London.

Two

Habrecht of Strasbourg published a

of Comenius.

Latin-Spanish-English-French edition, and so quadrilingual,

German means

his return to

version, strongly

made

Germany added a

commending it as an excellent The work was frequently

of learning a language.

republished in into

and on

many

schools,

Germany, was introduced

parts of

and

ultimately, in 1629, appeared

in eight languages.

first

Comenius hailed

this

book with

pleasure,

but after carefully studying it, came to the conclusion that it did not justify its title ; and this, first, because contained many words beyond the capacity of the young, while omitting many in daily use ; secondly, because the words, which were used only once, were

used in one signification only, whereas they constantly, in native authors, have more than one meaning, and thus pupils are misled

and

;

thirdly, because,

where one

signification is alone given, it ought always to be the primary one, which in the book in question was not the There were other objections to the book the case. :

sentences did not contribute to the moral instruction of youth, and were clumsy, and, indeed, even often destitute of meaning.

fundamental principle an irrefragable law of didactics is,' he says, in speaking of his own Janua, 'that the understanding and the tongue should advance '

in parallel lines always.

The human being

tends

what he apprehends. If he does not apprehend the words he uses, he is a parrot ; if he apprehends without words, he is a dumb statue. Accordingly, utter

under

100 heads,

have c

classified

the

whole uni-

Life and

verse of things in a

manner

Works suited to the capacity of

boys, and I have given the corresponding language.

have selected from Lexicons the words that had to be introduced, and I include 8000 vocables in 1000 sentences,

which are

at first simple,

become complex.

and thereafter gradually

have used words, as

far as prac-

ticable, in their primary signification, according to the

comprehension of the young, but have had to seek for modern Latin words where pure Latin was not to be had.

where

have used the same word only once, except had two meanings. Synonyms and contraries

have placed together, so that they may throw light on I have arranged the words so as to bring into view concords and governments and declension.

one another.

The vernacular

(Czech or Bohemian) I have printed occasion, as it would be useless to many

text

separately on this

whose judgments on my effort I desire to have. An index of the words (not however, absolutely necessary) be afterwards added; also a brief treatise on homonyms, synonyms, etc., and a short, compendious, simple,

will

and easy grammar volume,

will

be a

little

all

one

of which, comprised in

treasure-house of school-learning.'

Three years were spent on the Janua alone, and yet Comenius was far from thinking the work perfect he :

He considered he had only led the way for others. hoped also himself, from time to time, to improve the book.

He called all

book a 'Seminary of Tongues and because Sciences,' equal care had been given to things

and words.

this little

desired to introduce

some beginnings

of Comenitis. and

clear perception of things,

and

at the

to lay the foundations of learning, morals,

same time

and

piety.

Speaking generally, we may say that Comenius's aim \va.s

first, to

simplify

and graduate

secondly, to teach

;

words through things ; thirdly, to teach things through The book was a very remarkable innovation

words.

on the then standing

existing school text-books

this,

or because of

it,

;

but, notwith-

when he published

1631, at the urgent solicitation of his friends, and before, in his opinion,

was perfected,

mediate and enormous success. '

seemed

it.'

to vie with

one another

achieved an im-

People,'

he says, 1

producing editions was translated into Greek, Bohemian, Polish, in

German, Swedish, Belgian, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Turkish, Arabic, and into a language which he

calls

Mogolic,

and which,' he

familiar to the populations of India.'

says,

was

next, in 1633,

published his Vestibulum, which was intended to serve as an easy introduction to \\\o.Janua.

In 1632 there was convened a synod of the Moravian Brethren at Lissa, at which Comenius (now forty years of age) was elected to succeed his father-in-law Cyrillus a position which

as Bishop of the scattered brethren

enabled him

be of great

service,

by means of

corre-

spondence, to the members of the community, who were dispersed in various parts of Europe. Throughout the whole of his long life he continued this fatherly

seemed never

charge, and 1

quite to

abandon the hope

Dedication of Schola Lzidus,

C 2

vol.

iii.

Life and Works

of being restored, along with his fellow-exiles, to his In a hope doomed to disappointment.

native land

his capacity of Pastor-Bishop

he wrote several

treatises,

such as a History of the Persecutions of the Brotherhood,

an account of the Moravian Church-discipline and Order,

and polemical tracts against a contemporary Socinian. Meanwhile his great Didactic treatise, which had been written in his native

Czech tongue, was yet unpublished.

would appear, stimulated to the publication of it by an invitation he received in 1638, from the authorities in Sweden, to visit their country and underwas,

take the reformation of their schools. 1

replied that

he was unwilling to undertake a task at once so onerous and so invidious, but that he would gladly give the benefit of his advice to any one of their own

whom they might select for the duty. These communications led him to resume his labour on the nation

Great Didactic, and to translate

form

finally

appeared.

into Latin, in

In education Comenius was a Sense- Realist great and thoroughly consistent '

says

received his

he himself

relates,

which

Realist.

the

first

Von Raumer

impulse in this direction, from the well-known Spanish first

pedagogue Ludovic Vives, who declared himself against Aristotle, and demanded a Christian instead of a heathen

mode

of philosophising.'

It is

not disputation

Preface to vol. i. In the Dictionnaire de PedaI cannot find the precise date. gogie it is stated that the work, though completed at the time stated 2

in the above,

was not published

till

1657.

I think this

a mistake.

of Comenius.

which leads to any result/ said Vives, 'but the observation of Nature.

It is better for

silent

the scholars to

ask questions and to investigate than to be disputing with

each other.'

'Yet,' says

Comenius, 'Vives understood what was the remedy.'

better where the fault lay than

Comenius received a second impulse from Thomas But Campanella, who, however, did not satisfy him. '

when,' he says, Bacon's Instauratio Magna came into hands a wonderful work, which I consider the

most

now

instructive

beginning,

strations

philosophical

saw

are wanting

demanded by

work of the

century

that Campanella's

demon-

thoroughness which

in that

Yet again

the truth of things.

was

troubled, because the noble Verulam, while giving the true key of Nature, did not unlock her secrets, but only

by a few examples, how they should be unlocked, and left the rest to future observations to be showed,

extended

through

centuries.'

on,

goes

the

preface to the Physics,

from which these utterances are

taken, to say that he

convinced that

who must be master that

not Aristotle

it is

of philosophy for Christians, but

philosophy must

be studied

fully

according to

the leading of sense, reason, and books. continues,

'do we not dwell

as well as the ancients ?

in the

Why

'For,'

garden of Nature

should we not use our

as they? And why eyes, ears, should we need other teachers than these our senses to

and noses as well

know the works of Nature? Why, say I, should we not, instead of these dead books, lay open the living book of Nature, in which there is much more learn to

Life and Works

contemplate than any one person can ever relate, and the contemplation of which brings much more of to

It is this realism

pleasure, as well as of profit?'

which

explains his school-books and also his method.

was natural

travel

that the strong realistic impulse should

beyond the sphere of schools, and cause

men

dream of great things. The Advancement of Learning had filled Comenius, as well as other contemporary men, with hopes of a rapid and unparalleled progress in all the sciences, and a consequent improvement of the conditions of

human

With a view

life.

to a thorough

co-ordination and universal diffusion of scientific knowledge, he contemplated the issuing of a complete body of science as then understood. To effect this, the com-

bination of

many minds, each

in its

own department,

under the guidance of some controlling intellect, was necessary. Men were working in various parts of

and

all

Europe independently of each

other, and, the

younger what had been actually accomplished in the sciences to which they devoted An exhaustive but concise and authorithemselves.

men

especially, in ignorance of

tative statement of all that

ment could not

fail

was known

each depart-

immense service, and, mind was always practical,

to be of

Comenius thought, for his great influence on the progress and well-being of

as of

society.

This complete statement of the circle of knowledge he called Pansophia, and it was in this direction that his real life-work lay, in his

takings being

own opinion

strictly

;

his scholastic under-

subordinate to the greater task.

of Comenius.

Although not prepared to give effect to his views in proper form, he had been working at the Pansophy in the retirement of his study during the years which saw

the completion of the

first

edition of his

Janua and

In the department of Science he had already given to the world a treatise on Astronomy and on the reforming of Physics (1633). He had also, of his Great Didactic.

by correspondence, interested various learned men in his encyclopaedic or pansophic scheme among others, :

Samuel Hartlib, the friend of Milton, who was then resident in London, and to whom Milton addressed his tractate

on Education.

'Everybody knew Hartlib/ says Professor Masson 'He was a his Life of Milton (vol. iii. p. 193).

foreigner by birth, being the son of a Polish merchant

German

country

fell

extraction,

who had

in Prussia in very

left

Poland when that

and had

settled in Elbing

good circumstances.

Twice married

under Jesuit

rule,

before to Polish ladies, this merchant had married in Prussia, for his third wife, the daughter of a wealthy

English merchant of Dantzic; and thus our Hartlib, their son, though Prussian born, and with Polish connections, could reckon himself half-English.

The

date

of his birth was probably about the beginning of the century,

i.e.

he may have been eight or ten years older He appears to have first visited England

than Milton.

about 1628, and from that time, though he made frequent journeys to the Continent, London had been in or

Here, with a residence in the City, he had carried on business as a "merchant," with his head-quarters.

Life and Works

extensive foreign correspondences and very respectable

family connections.

But

did not require such

home in English The character of the man would have made society. him at home anywhere. He was one of those persons now styled " philanthropists," or " friends of progress," who take an interest in every question or project of family connections to

their time

some

make

Hartlib at

promising social improvement, have always fire, are constantly forming committees

iron in the

or writing letters to persons of influence, and altogether live for the public.

the

common

consent of

all

who

have explored the intellectual and social history of England in the seventeenth century, he is one of the

most interesting and memorable

figures of that

whole

period.

and

on account of the number and intimacy of

also

interesting both for

what he did

contacts with other interesting people

specially inspired

leading projects of the time

the

his

Hartlib was

not slow to be interested in the educational

Comenius, but he was

himself,

ideas of

by the two

Union of Protestant

Christendom, and, by help of this, the settlement of nations, and the union of the sciences in a complete encyclopaedic form.

him a long project, and

Comenius,

at his request,

had

sent

epistle, setting forth in full his

this epistle

was printed

Pansophic Oxford in 1637,

without Comenius's consent, and widely circulated.

The

treatise was called by Hartlib Porta Sapientiae reserata. It is entitled

by Comenius

in the List of

Contents (vide

Collected Works) Prodromus Pansophiae (Precursor of Pansophy) and in the body of his works, Pansophiae 1

See Note,

p. 229.

of Comenius.

praeludium, quo Sapientiae universalis bilitas

The running

dilucide demonstratur.

the objections of treatise

head-title of the

To meet

Pansophici Libri Delineatio.

treatise again is

brief

necessitas, possi-

fadlitasque (si ratione certa ineatur) breviter ac

critics,

further

Comenius

expounding

Conatuum pansophicorum

shortly after wrote a his

dilucidatio

views,

entitled

gratiam Cen-

sorum facta (1638).

These Europe.

treatises

excited

much

interest

throughout

Adolph Tassius, Professor of Mathematics at

Hamburg, wrote

to Hartlib 1

saying,

philosophic

ardour flames in every corner of Europe, and with it zeal for a better Didactic. If Comenius had done

nothing more than scatter such fruitful seeds in the minds of all, he would have done enough.' The reception accorded to the Pansophic ideas of

Comenius was encouraging enough, but it was apparent all, and to none more than Comenius, that they

could be carried out only by a community or college of learned men, and that this college would have to be

a permanent institution for the furtherance of science, and for the authoritative promulgation from time to time of the scientific status quo. A Collegium Didacticum or Pansophicum was accordingly projected.

It might have been urged that the Universities existed for these very purposes, but it is (it appears to me) a mistake to

suppose that these institutions had as yet thought of the prosecution of science as the main end of their tution. '

Except

insti-

so far as they were seminaries of

Disputations,' they were to a large extent merely higher 1

Vol.

p. 455.

Life and Works

academies for giving instruction to qualify for the various faculties and professions ; and to convert them into centres of scientific research

and illumination would

not have been in those days possible, although it would have been quite in harmony with their original design. It is only in recent times that the purely scientific idea has found its way into the heart of the University

system, and that Professors are expected to represent

and advance in

their subject as well as to afford instruction

to all comers.

The combination

of the scientific

with the teaching function constitutes, indeed, the ideal There was, in the beginning of a University system. of the seventeenth century, no

and

his friends save

new

institution.

For

way open

Comenius

by the foundation of an entirely this,

money was wanted, and

also

influential support.

At the urgent solicitation of the sanguine Hartlib, who had been busying himself among members of the

Long Parliament, Comenius repaired to London, which he reached on the 22d September 1641. There he found that he had been invited by Parliament itself; but as

was prorogued

for a

few months owing to King he had to wait. He

Charles's absence in Scotland,

employed

his

time well in expounding his views to

various people of influence,

and on the re-assembling

of Parliament he was asked to wait a

little

longer until

a commission of learned men could be appointed to Parliament even went so inquire into his proposals. propose to set apart the revenues and buildings of a college in London, or Winchester, or Chelsea, to

far as to

of Comenizis.

which men might be called trom various parts of the world and maintained in residence while prosecuting their learned researches

and giving

effect to

Comenius's

A statement of the revenues great Pansophic scheme. of Chelsea College was even placed in Comenius's hands, and he

now began

to entertain lively expecta-

tions that ere long the ideas of the great

and a

Verulam would

universal college

opened, solely devoted to the advancement of the sciences.' The realised,

general unsettlement of rebellion

affairs, aggravated by the Irish and the massacre of the Protestants, did not

admit, however, of the carrying out of any peaceful project.

The country was on

the eve of rebellion, and

the leaders in Parliament could scarcely be expected to

any save the greatest national and political Everything was in confusion, and Comenius,

find time for affairs.

deeply disappointed, prepared to return to the Continent. It was precisely at this moment that he received, from

a correspondent and admirer in Sweden, a

letter

which

change his plans. The name of this friend, who plays an important part in Comenius's future life, was Ludovic de Geer, a man of noble family, of con-

led

him

siderable wealth, and, happily, also of an enlightened

He was a Dutchman settled and progressive mind. He assured Comenius that his personal in Sweden. influence would enable

Sweden

(at that

him

promote

his

views in

time ruled by Christina and the famous

Chancellor Oxenstiern), and that he could secure the In accepting this invitation, co-operation of others. Comenius had the approval of his English friends, but as

Life and Works

44 De Geer had

evidently in view the Didactic rather than

the Pansophic innovations of Comenius, they protested

by anticipation against his being drawn aside from what they considered to be the larger aim to the more restricted subject of school-books.

Comenius

left

London

Sweden

for

and was kindly received by De Geer

August 1642 1

Nordkoping. After a few days spent with his host, he was sent on to Stockholm with introductions to Oxenstiern and to

John Skyte, Chancellor of the University of Upsala. By both he was treated with respect, and his plans, Pansophic and Didactic,

fully discussed.

his inter-

views Comenius himself gives an account in the Preface For four days,' he to the second volume of his works. '

says, 'these

two men

who questioned me

held'

Oxenstiern, that eagle of the as to

in debate, but

chiefly

North ( Aquilonaris Aquila),

principles, both

Pansophic

and Didactic, with a greater penetration and closeness than had been exhibited by any of the learned with

whom

had come

Didactic was

in contact.

the

subject

For the

first

three days

his examination,

and

he brought the interviews to an end with the following " From remarks youth up I have perceived a certain :

the customary method of school studies, but I could never put my finger on the place where the shoe pinched. When sent by my King, of glorious

violence in

memory, with

as an

many

ambassador to Germany, I conferred men on the subject and when I

learned

Gustavus Adolphus.

;

the Baltic, eighty-five miles south-west of Stockholm.

of Comenius.

was informed that Wolfgang Ratich had attempted a reform of Method, I had no peace in my mind till I had the man before me ; but he, instead of a conversation,

me with a huge book in quarto. I swallowed annoyance, and having run through the whole volume, I saw that he had exposed the diseases of presented

that

schools not badly, but as for the remedies, they did not

seem

be adequate. Your remedies rest on on with your work," etc. To ; go

firmer foundations

which

I replied that in these

could,

and

now

that

His answer was

wished to pass to other matters.

matters I had done what I

know

that

you are undertaking Prodromus of your

greater things, for I have read the

Pansophia, and on this point public duties day,

now

when about

with

call

examine of

a greater aspect

examination with tradiction?"

this

shall talk to-morrow, for

me elsewhere." On

Pansophic labours, but severity, he prefaced his

question

" :

but by

Can you bear

con-

"The Prodromus was

I can," I replied.

published not by

the following

friends, for the very

and purpose of receiving opinions and criticisms if we admit these from any and every quarter, of whatso:

ever kind,

why not from men of matured wisdom and

judgment?" He then began to speak against the hopes I had conceived of a better state of of

eminent

things

likely

Pansophic study,

arise

first

from a rightly instituted

making

political objections of

profound import, and then bringing forward the testimony of Holy Writ, which seems to predict that darkness

and degeneracy

rather

than light and an improved

Life and Works

would

state of society

world.

replies

To no one

the

Nevertheless

yet, I think,

Stand on these foundaa consensus of opinion in

shall reach

you propose, or

way no way.

in the spirit indicated

he received

by his concluding remarks have such things occurred. tions, for either

end of the

prevail towards the

will

be made clear that there

advice

and

you devote

that

make

the study yourself of Latin easier, and by that means to prepare a smoother to benefit schools

first

way

for the greater things.'"

The

Chancellor of the University added the weight

of his advice to the same

effect,

should

move

on the

Baltic coast of Prussia.

suggesting that

Comenius

to a locality near Sweden, such as Elbing

De Geer was

Finding that his friend

of the same mind, he yielded, in the

hope of bringing these troublesome and vexatious toils to a close in a year or two. When he communicated his resolution

to his friends in

a strong protest facility

his

yielding

unfaithfulness

to to

'Quo moriture

ruis?'

viribus audes

England, he received

They complained of his

the

his too great

Swedish advisers, and of great Pansophic scheme.

wrote

Hartlib.

Minoraque was much shaken by these repre-

more, that they supported his own A Swedish remonstrance, however, reached him at Lesna, which finally determined him

sentations

the

real inclinations.

go to Elbing and prosecute his Didactic labours. these he now devoted himself, after first putting

to press, in

1643, at Danzig, a treatise on Pansophia,

entitled Pansophiae Diatyposis, Ichnographica et OttJio-

of Comenius.

graphica, a work afterwards republished at

and

Amsterdam

Paris.

When, ported

where he was sup-

in his retirement at Elbing,

by De

Geer, he had laboured at his Didactic '

treatises for nearly four years

rolling his Sisyphaean

he calls it he again visited Sweden (1646) with his manuscripts, and having submitted them to a stone,' as

commission of three judges, was directed to publish them as soon as he had given them his last touches.

Two

hard labour on the Lexicons

years, however, of

and Grammars which were awaited him, and

still

a position to publish.

his Polish

home

episcopal work, his labours

accompany

was only

this

his

books

1648 that he

was

time he returned to

Lesna, the proper centre of his

and

at the

Lesna press the

fruits

were printed.

complete

list

of the works which were the fruit of

those six years' labours will be found at the end of this

memoir, under their proper titles. They included the most elaborate of all his treatises on Method, except his Great Didactic, viz., TJie Newest Method of Languages solidly based on Didactic Foundations,

and a specimen of

a Vestibulum^ for the final shape of which he refers his readers to the Vestibulum afterwards revised at Patak in

Hungary

also a

new

edition of ihefanua, for which

also his readers are referred to

form as revised at Patak 1

1 i

its final

and completed

a Latin -vernacular

Grammar

Both Veslibulum and Janua were, however, printed

before he went to Patak, as appears from vol. Epistle prefixed to the Schola Ludus.

iii.

Lesna

in the Dedicatory

Works

Life and

for the use of

ihefanua, with appended annotations

for

a very clear, complete, and

teachers

yet brief work

compared with the Grammars of the time

German Lexicon, published and not included

later, in

and a Latin-

;

1656, at Frankfort,

in the collected works, as

being too

more advanced school-book, entitled Atrium Linguae Latinae, he had just begun when he cumbrous.

was called into Hungary, where imperfections writings,

one

man

these

books,

was completed. indeed of

The

all

his

always ready to admit, pleading that no could all at once correct the mistakes of the

past, place

education on a right basis, and furnish the

school with proper instruments of teaching.

While still engaged in the completion of the works which belong to this Elbing period, when he was subsidised by De Geer, he received many testimonies from

men high in position as to the value of An interesting correspondence with the Posnania, 'Christoph. Opalinski de

Bnm,

his labours.

Palatine 1

himself an

author and a vigorous promoter of education in his own country, was lost in the destruction of Lesna by the

Swedish army, in 1655, under Charles

which

destroyed

also

the

an invasion

gymnasium

Sirakovia,

which Opalinski had founded and supplied with translations of Comenius's school-books. 1

The products dedicated to

of the six years of Elbing industry he

Geer.

Having discharged 1

jfudicia,

his obligations

novaeque disquisitiones

Vol.

ii.

his

Swedish

of Works, p. 458.

of Comenius.

department of Didactics, he was about

friends in the

now, at

last,

Pansophic

to apply himself exclusively to the greater

schemes,

and

was

labours in this direction with

he received a

and

letter

contemplating

future

much complacency when

from the Prince Sigismund Racocus, 1

widowed mother,

his

the Princess of Transylvania,

urging him to advise in the reformation of the schools in their country.

The

requests of mother

by communications

enforced

and son were

from theologians, and by him because of the

were favourably entertained kindness shown in Transylvania to exiled Moravians. Accordingly, in May 1650, he betook himself to SarosPatak, a market-town of Hungary, on the Bodrogh,

and

thence, along with their Highnesses, to Tokay, twenty It was in this year that he published his Lux in Tenebris, a book on the fulfilment of modern prophecy, and became entangled with one

miles to the north-east.

2 Drabicius, who gave himself out as a prophet and gained a certain following. This weakness in Comenius may be touched with a gentle hand. His theological writings

show life

that

he had strong mystical leanings, and

he was a devoted admirer of

Madame

in later

Bourignon,

whom, indeed, he stood in personal relations. The form which his scholastic labours now took com1

George I., Ragotzski, Prince of Transylvania. This country was not incorporated in the Austrian dominions till 1699. Hungary accrued to Austria in 1526, and became hereditary in 1687. For an account of Drabicius and Kotterus, see Bayle's DicTheir productions were largely embodied in Comenius's tionary. book.

The date

of the publication of Lux in Tenebris is given doubtless due to the confounding of the Czech

variously.

This

and Latin

editions.

Life and Works

bined the Didactic with the Pansophic more fully than Being asked to put his idea of a Pansophic

hitherto.

school in writing, he printed his Illustris Scholae Pata-

and

kinae Idta,

Pansophicae

thereafter

classibus

septem

detail his

full

adornandae

Scholae

Delineatio.

During his residence at Patak, which lasted till 1654, he produced fifteen works, among which were the new editions of the Vestibulum

andfanua, the

first

edition

of the Atrium, the famous Orbis Pictus (World Illus1 trated), and the Schola Ludus.

These text-books are described

the account of

Comenius's educational views which follows of his

life

and labours.

The most

this sketch

characteristic

and

important of the works of this period was the Schola Pansophtca, or

count of which

desired to

Universalis Sapientiae will also

make

the

be found

Ojficina,

in its

an ac-

proper place.

new Patak seminary not merely

a Pansophic school, but also to give

the character of

a Latin state, nay, even of Latium itself. Nothing but Latin was to be spoken. 2 This was practicable, because he contemplated a college in which all the pupils should dwell together.

His patrons did of support.

They

they could to fulfil their promises gave him a collegiate building, and,

all

they purchased the fourth house Comenius's plan was from the college for the school.

in addition to this,

buy up the intervening houses, with their gardens, and as many on the other side, so as to provide resito

Printed at Nuremberg in 1658. Deliberatio de Latio a Tiberi ad Brodrocum transferendo.

of Comenius.

dences for seven masters, and also seven class-rooms.

The whole was so that a

be surrounded by a continuous

wall,

Latin state (Latina dvitatula) might be with its own open areas and gardens all enplanted, little

closed from the outer world.

This was to be a

little

own customs, laws, judges, and republic, having and its own chapel and services. The masters senate, its

were to preside over a large family like fathers, and there, in a course of seven years, beginning at the age of twelve, boys were to be instructed in all things that '

perfect tians

human

nature,'

and trained to be pious Chris-

and wise and cultivated men.

The

three-class school

which formed the lower division

of this Pansophic seminary was organised with a view to instruction in Latin along with Real things. classes,

to the

seventh, are

The

described

higher

elsewhere.

They do not seem ever to have been organised. The Precepts of Manners, collected for the use of youth in 1653, are amusing, and at the same time afford evidence of the exaggerated conceptions which Comenius entertained of the possibilities of education. lieved,

truth,

for the

Schola Ludus, which

Linguarum

be-

he could manufacture a man.

that

These also were written

The

Patak school.

a kind of dramatic Janua

Rerum, was likewise written and printed

Patak school.

elaborate Latino-latin Lexicon

was also composed during the four years' residence at Patak. Comenius left it behind him in MS., and it was

Amsterdam in 1657. Prince Sigismund, unfortunately, died prema-

afterwards printed at

The

Life and Works

52 turely,

and those

to limit the

new

in authority after his death resolved institution to the three-class Latin, or

philological, school,

and

for the use of this school the

and Atrium were printed in LatinThe Patak school was auspiciously opened

Vestibulum, Janua,

Hungarian. under three carefully selected masters, and Comenius believed it to be flourishing in 1657, when, at Amsterdam, he was writing his dedicatory epistle prefixed to the Schola Ludus.

It had,

however, suffered from the

plague of 1655, which temporarily broke

Having

up.

accomplished his work of organisation and book-writing,

Comenius

left

Hungary

1654, pronouncing his vale-

dictory address on June 2d of that year, in presence of

a distinguished assembly. 1 In that address he informs his audience that his objects in school reform were for learning the Latin tongue,

acquisition of

to give

compendiums

which would make the

pleasant; to introduce a higher and

better philosophy into school work, so as to

fit

for the investigation of the causes of things;

create a higher tone of morals

and manners.

out these objects, he had constructed, he a Vestibulum and a

two

first

Janua of

classes, with their

youth

and

To tells

carry

them,

the Latin tongue for the

accompanying lexicons and

grammars, and an Atrium for the third stage, with a more extended grammar, including idioms, phrases, and As to science, elegancies, and a Latino-latin lexicon. arts, 1

vol.

philosophy, morals, and theology, he had so con-

Laborum Scholasticorum Patakini obilorum iii.

p. 1041.

Coroniso,

vide

of Comenius. structed the

above-named books that they contained

departments of knowledge; in Pansophia in its elements. He thanks all for

the foundations of brief,

their co-operation,

all

and impresses on them,

in eloquent

language, the duty of maintaining the school, and prosecuting the methods which he had taught them, which

he elsewhere sums up

in the

words, Noscenda noscendo,

facienda faciendo, or Autopsy, looking at things for one-

and Autopraxy, doing or constant practice. Vale Patakina schola!' he concludes. Vale ecclesia

self, '

Valete omnes amici, Comeniique vestri amicam apud vos retinete memoriam, amicis proImprimis valete vos dilecti sequimini votis, etc.

Vale Patakum ipsum

collegae, atque

meum

pro

illo

me Eliam

vestrum fuisse credebatis

meo portionem

spiritu

coelitus dari opto; ut publici boni

promovendo laborum

tolerantia et

condescentia progressibus denique bonis

quomodo

lugetis, ego vos ut meos

a vobis discessum intueor et vobis

Elisaeos

duplam

amore

ad infirmiores

ita

superetis

miraculis patrandis Eliam superavit Elisaeus

ad scholam hanc vestram

et alias tarn sancte sapienterque

regendum quam sancte sapienterque scholas Prophetarum rexit Elisaeus !'

must have been about 1652-53, while still midst of his Patak labours, that he lost his best It

and patron, Ludovic de Geer.

in the

friend

long letter of condo-

lence addressed to the son, Laurence, then settled at

Amsterdam

as Swedish ambassador, concludes the third

volume of the Works.

this

and lauds the character of the

recalls the virtues

father,

who

was, without

Life and Works

54 doubt, a

and

man

of high public

spirit,

and 6f a generous

For eight years he had supported amanuenses, and was prepared, when the opportunity offered, to contribute largely towards liberal nature.

Comenius and

his

the institution of a Pansophic College.

From Patak Comenius went, in 1654, to his former home at Lesna. The war which almost immediately after

broke out (1655) involved the whole of Poland,

and caused, among other calamities, the destruction of Lesna (1656). l He was thus forced to seek for some safer asylum.

In the overthrow of the town, Comenius

lost all his

and manuscripts, which of the studies which he had under-

property, including his library

contained the results

taken with a view to the great Pansophic book which was the chief aim of his life. Among the MSS. was one which, he

tells us,

possessions

;

he considered the most precious of

was

his Silva or

forest' (to

use his

his

own

peculiar expression) of Pansophic materials, a treasury

of definitions of

all things,

and of axioms,

scientific

and

philosophic, which he had spent twenty years in gatherHe had not, even then, been prepared ing together. with a complete system, but he had in contemplation,

and nearly ready, a much more complete any he had yet

treatise

than

issued.

After the ruin of Lesna, he was invited by Laurence 1

The

fate of

Lesna was said

egyric on Charles Gustavus, indiscreetly published.

have been partly due to a pan-

King of Sweden, which Comenius

of Comenius. de Geer, the son of

From

his former patron, to join

to take

Amsterdam, there

55 him

counsel as to his future.

the temporary refuge which he had found for his

family he was driven by pestilence, and other friends joining

De Geer

urging him to

make Amsterdam

his

home, he yielded, because, he himself says, 'I have all my life long been accustomed to yield to what seemed to be the guidance of Providence.' 1 future

Comenius was now

To fresh

sixty-three years of age.

the loss of his Pansophic MSS. were

demands on

and he had

his time of

to return

many

errors

and defects

after his departure, that

now added

strictly scholastic kind,

puerilia

nauseata Latinitatis studia.'

Ludus was demanded

ilia

utut mihi toties

edition of his ScJwla

Holland, and he found so

in the version printed at

Patak

he had to devote a considerable

time to emending and printing. Then, it was impossible to escape from the supposed necessity of constructing another elementary book, a sequel to the Vestibulum^ He was also requested to be entitled the Auctarium.

by the Senate of Amsterdam to try his method on two His Latinity also was attacked, and this caused youths. to write Pro Latinitate Januae Comenianae Apologia. These labours, but especially this last treatise, revived an interest in his method in the minds of many public

him

men, and he was asked

to put his educational views in

the form of an epitome, so that busy

them.

This

gave 1

The

rise last

his

men might

read

Synopsis Novissimae

Dedicatory Epistle.

Life and Works

Methodi, which, however, he did not think

worth his

while to republish in his Works, probably because is

substantially repeated in other treatises.

The publication of his complete didactic works, to which he now addressed himself at the instance of De Geer, and under the patronage of the highest authorities in

Amsterdam, led him

to take a critical survey of all

he had written, that he might confirm, retract, or modify the opinions which he had from time to time This treatise of retrospect and revision

given forth.

he entitled Ventilabrum Sapientiae sive sapienier sua retractandi Ars The Fanner of Wisdom, or the Art '

of retracting one's to

winnow away

He '

quotes

Scientiae

absolutus est in ulla scientia. vestigia unius sunt (nempe Dei}.' totle as saying,

even ing,

This fanner was

Opinions.'

support of this self-criticism non contingit hominibus. Nemo enim

Philo

finis

own

the chaff and leave the solid grain.

Revera perfectiones

also quotes Aris-

behoves a philosopher to forswear

own dogmas,' and a Roman Pontiff as remark'Wretched is that man who is the slave of his own his

dogmas.' In the Didactica Magna, which contains the systematic development of his principles and methods, he

he has nothing to retract, but confines hima defence of the Syncretic Method, which is

finds that self to

there followed.

Comenius recognises three methods of the Analytic and truth,

ascertaining and expounding

the Synthetic

(which words he uses in our modern

acceptation), and the

Syncretic.

this last

he means

of Comemus. arguing by a

method of

of Analogy.

57 the

parallels in nature,

method

holds that the true character and

process of anything in the created world furnishes a of explanation for other things, which

line

of the

most convincing kind. The stricter view of Analogy which is now accepted was not known to Comenius, although he must have had before him the dictum of the schoolmen

' :

Similia illustrant quidem,

non autem

probant.' in the course of his retrospect,

When,

he re-peruses

Praeludium Pansophicum, a sense of wasted years oppresses him, and he is again afflicted with grief, his

because he

had,

the

urgent entreaty

of friends,

too readily deserted this the main line of his studies, sacrificing the great ambition of his life to occupy him-

have for

I imitated,'

good

pearls,

great price, it

How badly he exclaims, 'that merchant seeking who, when he had found a pearl of

with

self exclusively

matters didactic.

went away and sold

wretched sons of

imitate

the

Would

that

had followed

all

light,

he had, and bought who know not to

wisdom of the children of the world I, it

up, neglecting

when we lend an

all else

But so it happens

ear to the solicitations clamouring

outside us rather than to the light shining within

The

corrections

has

make on

his

didactic writings are certainly very unimportant. all

having once struck the Pansophic vein,

us.'

various

They

point in the direction of greater simplification, and

for this

he looks to the labours of his successors rather

than to any revision of his own.

Life and

Works

About the year 1657 Comenius wrote and published volume of his Works) four treatises, which

(in the fourth

He desired to present his a brief and condensed, yet systematic way,

however constitute one. principles in

so that they might be accessible to

public

The

affairs.

first

men

occupied with

of these treatises

entitled

Scholasticis Labyrinthis Exitus in Planum, sive Machina Didactica mechanice constructa : ad non haerendum am-

plius (in Docendi et Discendi munit's) sed progrcdiendum,

'An Issue out of School-labyrinths into the Open, or a Didactic Machine mechanically constructed with a view to no longer sticking fast in the work of TeachSchools, ing and Learning, but of advancing in them.'

tells us,

are to be

compared

distracting the minds of youth

to labyrinths, infinitely

the thread which

guide us through the labyrinths

The

method.

are not accurately laid down.

issues

a true and simple

sciences and arts and tongues are to be

taught, but the precise quantity

Method

and goal of teaching

The thread

all-important, because

of Ariadne

leads to distinct

by a proper way.

Augustine says, Praestet pauca opinari ; Pliny says, Satius sit minus

sdre quant infinita serere et melius arare ; and again, Seneca, Melius est sdre pauca et Us recte uti quam sdre multa quorum ignores nsum.

Our method,'

says Comenius,

offers

few

but these necessary to life here and hereafter ; few things, but these well consolidated by continued things,

exercises

;

few things, but these having a direct

As he grew

older,

and looked back on

utility.'

his past work,

of Comenius.

he became more and more convinced that he was

definite

and

was now

His views assumed

of age.

years

aims and methods.

right in his

clear shape,

sixty-five

his

mind a

and became almost axiomatic.

admits certain errors in the details of working out

example, that his text-books are too condensed, and attempt too much, and that it would

his

for

views;

be hardly possible to accomplish

in three

Three-Class philological, or Latin school)

years (the all

that he

once

thought might be accomplished within that period; but these faults he considers to be faults of detail,

and due

own

his

culpable neglect of the

principles he had himself laid down. Admitting so much, he yet regards his method as so absolute in

character that

its

may be

a clock, or a ship, or a going, and

you

likened to a machine Set

mill.

going,

and keep

will find the result certain.

It is really

of the nature of a mechanical construction, mechanically

He is never weary of advocating He sums up his principles, and then, with

constructed.

his system.

the ardour of his youth, he afresh proceeds to con-

all

sider the

means by which

The Latin but Latin

accepta,

school to

usu

his great

end

be a college

be spoken. et

Longum

to be attained.

which nothing

et difficile

consuetudine iter breve et

calls the brief treatise

stitution of

iter

efficax.

which he advocates the

per

He in-

such a college Latium Redivivum, and urges

the authorities of

Amsterdam

to institute one.

With such a College he sees his way so to carry out methods as to justify him in recurring to one of his

his

Life and Works

old ideas, and comparing his method to a printing-press, which makes the impression of the type on the paper without fail. So will the impression on minds by his

method be equally

Hence

certain.

name

the

of his

next paper, Typographeum Vivum, or the Living Print-

ing Press.

here compares his method with clocks,

ships, agriculture

aratro

ciplinae

(Ingemum enim vivus ager sementi

seminibus obserendus,

praeparandus,

Exerdiiorum pluvia,

sole,

animandus), with the pictorial and sculptural with architecture, but prefers to dwell on to the typographic art, not only as to the

cedure, but also the result

;

for

Dis-

est ;

Doctrinarum vento

arts,

and

likeness

its

mode

of pro-

whereas in the one

case you have books, in the other, every capable pupil

properly trained will be a walking library

obambiilans

Bibliotheca.

But the

final

aim of

all

Comenius never

religious.

restoration of

man

this training is

to the Paradise

which he

and to the image of God which he the Providence of

God

moral and

lost sight of this.

lost, is

in Christ, so the

the

forfeited,

the aim of

aim of the

a bringing of its work and methods into a harmony with moral and religious aims, and subordinating the school to the Church as a spiritual school

society.

a restoration

Hence

the

title

of the next treatise, Paradisus

In this treatise he Juveiituti Christianae reducendus. aim of the school with that of a mixes up the spiritual Paradise in the sense of a place that

may be made

and indulges also in many forced analogies between the school and the first Paradise.

happy one

for boys,

of Comenius.

Lampadis he solemnly hands life to be carried on by and commends his labours to God, who had others, him so favoured as to make him the instrument of Finally, in his

Traditio

over the didactic work of his

sowing the seed of a better time for schools, and to whose blessing he looks for a rich harvest in the future.

Comenius was now

sixty-six years of age,

and had

just revised and completed the issue of his collected

Didactic works, extending to four folio volumes.

had now said

word.

his last

simple-hearted and single-minded old Bishop, tells

can well believe the

when he

us that he had been led by no personal ambition

to publish his works,

and that he was very

far

from

desiring to derogate from the claims of those writers

who preceded him, and Nor had obligations.

to his

whom

he acknowledges his motive been the desire of

had sought nothing and gained nothing. had laboured and written, he says, influenced by

wealth, for he

the love of God,

and stimulated by the exhortations

of learned men, solely in the hope of improving the

education of youth, and preparing a better future for

humanity. It is not to be supposed that Comenius's relations to his original patron Ludovic de Geer were always pleasant; such relations seldom are.

De Geer com-

plained of unnecessary delay, and Comenius had many personal vexations to contend with arising out of his

pecuniary dependence.

learn also, from the last

Life and Works

Dedicatory Epistle written by Comenius, and addressed some of the leading men in Amsterdam, that he

had

even in his old age, escaped the general -fate of reformers. While his views on Education had been not,

by some of the best men

ardently supported

that obstructive of all education

who

teacher,'

been

known

Europe,

as the 'practical

almost always an obscurantist, had Detraction was busy, and he was

work.

accused by the teachers of Amsterdam of 'attacking To all this his reply was brief. 'I can schools.'

affirm,'

'from the bottom of

writes,

heart, that

aim has been simple and unpretending, indifferent whether I teach or be taught, admonish or be admonished, willing to act the part of a these

years

forty

teacher of teachers,

to be so,

may be

and a

possible.

it may be permitted of disciple disciples where progress

in anything

that I write against schools:

They say

it is for schools that I speak, and have spoken. presume our common ends are the same it is as to methods and ways that we differ.' Malignity even touched the character and motives of the old Bishop.

nay, I

;

life

have not, by the grace of God,' he says, 'so spent that

now

old age I

are the things I have

must avoid the

light

;

my nor

now of so little account when I am asked to speak.

done

till

that I

the allegation that I have preferred private to

keep silence

public schools,

this

incorrect

;

writings

show

have desired to give trouble to none, but rather to lessen trouble. Why then should any delight to molest me? Let me live in tranquillity as long as this.

God

wills

to be here

With Thomas a Kempis

of Comenius. I

can from

heart and the bitter lessons ot experi

ence say, " I have tried I found peace, save in a

all

anywhere have and a little book" corner

things, nor

little

(angulnlo et libellulo).^

Of Comenius's domestic life and history much is known. He married, as his second

not very wife, the

daughter of Joh. Cyrillus, a priest of the Brotherhood and a Senior, apparently about the year 1629. She died in 1648, or the beginning of 1649, after having borne five children a son, Daniel by name, and four

The eldest daughter, Dorothea, seems to have married Johann Mohtor, a man of good Slovack family, who had been under Comenius's educational daughters.

The second

supervision at Lissa.

daughter, Elizabeth,

married Figulus, one of her father's collaborateurs, and a

Moravian

pastor.

Comenius continued

to reside in

Amsterdam,

after

the publication of his collected Didactic works (com-

pleted in the end of 1657), maintaining himself and his family by teaching, and partly,

would seem, supported life and

by the private liberality of the admirers of his labours

especially

expense

his

the

Avorks to the city of hospitality

De Geer

books were printed.

its

Amsterdam,

The

attack on

this,

whose

dedicated

his

in gratitude for the

people had shown to him.

nearly thirteen years after 1

family,

lived for

dying on the i5th of

Comenius by Nicolas Arnoldus,

in his Discursus

Bayle's Theologicus contra Comenium, is personal and spiteful. treatment of Comenius shows a complete misapprehension of his character.

Life and Works

1671, in his eightieth year, and was buried

November

During these concluding years he does not seem to have added to his Didactic writings, but Naarden.

he printed several treatises of a religious character intended to further the promotion of the unity of Christendom, and continued to maintain his connection with the Moravian

Protestant

by correspondence

and

superintendence of their affairs. publication was a confession, entitled One

Brethren,

His

last

the

simplicity this

which the piety of his heart and

Thing Needful^

he thanks

his

God

faith

are

that he

alike

conspicuous.

had been a man of

aspirations.

Even

in the declining years of his laborious life

moment

never for a

lost sight of his great

Pansophic world and of science was before the which to work, place letters the

and was

of human knowledge in all departments, be a University of scientific investigation.

sum

set himself diligently to replace the materials

and

MSS. which were destroyed at the sacking of Lesna, and

a large

left

number of papers behind him, enjoining his his old friend and fellow-worker Nigrinus

son Daniel and to prepare

them

for

publication.

have troubled himself very

little

The son seems

about the matter, but

Nigrinus worked for eight or nine years at the revision 1

Unum

necessarium in vita et morte et post mortem quod nonmundi fatigatus et ad unum necessarium sese recipiens senex J. A. Comenius anno aetatis suae 77, mundo expendendum Terent. Ad omnia aetate sapimus recte. Edit. Amsteloofiert. dami 1668. Afterwards republished in Leipzig in 1734. necessari

translation of the Bible into Turkish also occupied and time.

his thoughts

much

of Comenius. and preparation of the

MS., being supported during the

task by the liberality of Gerard de Geer.

But

does

not appear that any Pansophic publication ever saw the light. '

Comenius,' says

Von Raumer

venerable figure of sorrow.

and homeless, during the

truly,

a grand and

Wandering, persecuted,

terrible

and desolating Thirty

Years' War, he yet never despaired

and strong

truth,

but with enduring ; he laboured unweariedly to

in faith,

prepare youth by a better future. tells

us,

education

for

better

Suspended from the ministry, as he himself and an exile, he had become an Apostle ad

gentes

minutulas

tainly

he laboured

Christianam juveututem ; and certhem with a zeal and love worthy

for

of the chief of the Apostles.'

WORKS OF COMENIUS. Comenius wrote various books on Physics and a great many

on Theological and Ecclesiastical subjects, in addition to those on Education and on Pansophy. The chief of these were :

The Labyrinth

of the

World and

the Paradise of the iieart.

Printed in the Czech language about 1621, but first published at Lesna, in quarto, in 1631. 2. Historia unitatis fratrum et ratio disciplinae.

Lumen Divinum reformatae Synopsis. Lipsiae and Amsterodami 1643. 4. De bono Unitatis et Ordinis, Disciplinae et Obedientiae in Ecclesiae Bohemicae Ecclesia recte constituta, vel constituenda ad Anglicanam Paraenesis. Amst. 1660. fulfilment of prophecy in 5. Lux in tenebris (a book on the modern events). 1650. 3.

Physicae ad

1633,

Works of Comenius.

66 6.

Historia Revelationum.

Unum

Amst. I668. 1

Necessarium.

EDUCATIONAL AND PANSOPHIC WORKS. These were published at Amsterdam in 1657, in four vols. They are bound in one volume, and extend to 2271 pages. 2

folio.

In the Dedicatory Epistle, dated 2Oth December 1657, the author informs us that he had collected all his writings, arranging them in chronological order, at the request of many leading men in the State,

body

and

Amsterdam

compliance "with a resolution of the governing

(sacri senatus decreto).

dedicates his works to the city

in recognition of the hospitable reception

had

given him.

The

title is

A. Comenii Opera didactica omnia, variis hucusque occasionibus scripta, diversisque locis edita nunc autem non tantum in J.

unum, ut simul sint, collecta, sed et ultimo conatu in Systema unum mechanice constructum, redacta. Amsterodami impensis D. Laurentii de Geer excuderunt Christophorus Cunradus et Gabriel a Roy.

Anno

Erster TheiL

1657.

voll. fol.

(Schriften

von 1627-1642.)

The Poland Period.

1. De primis occasionibus, quibus hue studiorum delatus fuit Author, brevissima relatio. Omnes omnia docendi artificia exhibens. 2. Didactica magna. 3. Schola materni gremii, sive de provida Juventutis primo

sexennio Educatione. 4.

6. 7.

Proplasma Templi Latinitatis Dav. Vechneri

non

edita.

et cur

opus

processerit.

Scholae vernaculae delineatio.

Janua latinae linguae primum Vestibulum ei praestructum.

sermonis Latini studio.

Also, a History of the Persecutions of the Moravians, the precise title of which I do not know. a The paging 451 to 591, vol. iii., is repeated by the printer.

Works of Comenius. 10.

Prodromus pansophiae. Variorum de eo Censurae.

11.

Pansophicorum Conatuum Dilucidatio.

Zweiter Theil.

The Elbing Period.

(Schriften von 1642-50.)

Methodus linguarum novissima fundamentis didacticis,

novis Didactica studia continuandi occasionibus. solide

superstructa. 3. 4.

LaL linguae Vestibulum, rerum et linguae cardines exhibens. Januae linguarum novissimae Clavis, Grammatica Latino-

vernacula. 5.

Judicia novaeque disquisitiones.

Dritter Theil.

(Schriften

von 1650-54.)

Scholae pansophicae delineatio.

4. 5.

De De De De

gendos 7.

The Patak Period.

vocatione in Hungariam relatio. repertis studii pansophici obicibus. ingeniorum cultura.

ingenia colendi primario instrumento, Libris. reperta ad Authores latinos prompte legendos et brevi et amoena via Schola Triclassi.

intelli-

facili,

Eruditionis scholasticae pars

Vestibulum, rerum

et lin-

guae fundamenta ponens. 8.

Janua rerum linguarum embracing

Eruditionis scholasticae pars II.

structuram externam exhibens a. b. c.

;

Lexicon Januale.

Grammatica Janualis. Janualis rerum et verborum contextus, historiolam rerum continens.

Eruditionis scholasticae pars III. guarum ornamenta exhibens. 9.

Atrium

rerum

et lin-

10.

Fortius redivivus, sive de pellenda Scholis ignavia.

11.

Praecepta

12.

Leges bene ordinatae scholae. Orbis sensualium pictus. (Only an announcement.) Schola Ludus h. e. Januae linguarum praxis comica. Laborum scholasticorum in Hungaria obitorum Coronis.

13. 14.

15.

morum

usum

Juventutis collecta.

E 2

Anno

1653.

Works of Comenius

Vierter Theil. (Schriften 1.

von 1654-57.)

The Amsterdam Period.

Vita gyms, sive de occasionibus vitae, et quibus Autorem

Belgium

deferri,

iterumque ad intermissa didactica studia redire

contigit 2. Parvulis parvulus,

Omnibus omnia,

h. e. Vestibuli

Latinae

linguae Auctarium, voces primitivas in sententiolas redigens. 3. Apologia pro Latinitate Januae Comenianae. 4.

Ventilabrum sapientiae,

sive sapienter sua retractandi ars. labyrinthis scholasticis exitus tandem in planum, sive didactica mechanice constructa.

Machina 6. Latium redivivum, hoc est, de forma latinissimi Collegii, seu novae romanae civitatulae ; ubi latina lingua usu et consuetudine ut olim, melius tamen quam olim, addiscatur. ars compendiose et tamen 7. Typographeum vivum, hoc est copiose ac eleganter sapientiam non chartis, sed ingeniis impri:

mendL ecclesiae reductus ; hoc est optimus scholarum ad primae paradisiacae scholae ideam delineatus. 9. Traditio lampadis, hoc est studiorum sapientiae christianaeque juventutis et scholarum, Deo et hominibus devota com8.

Paradisus

status,

mendatio. 10.

Paralipomena didactica.

Pansophiae diatyposis.

Dantzic 1643.

In 1670 Comenius, when (as he states) he was seventy-eight years of age, wrote a short preface to a trilingual edition of the Janua English, Latin, and Greek, in parallel columns published in London. Some quaint woodcuts of by no means bad execution are prefixed to this edition, which I met with in the Advocates' The cuts are illustrative of the different Library, Edinburgh.

departments of realistic study, as then understood. In these we have represented Astronomy, Mathematics, Navigation, Geography, Anatomy, Architecture. One of the anatomical illustrations is a skeleton leaning in a pensive attitude on a table, while one long bony hand rests on a skull.

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AND WRITINGS OF COMENIUS.

PART THE GREAT

DIDACTIC.

First Section.

PANSOPHY AND THE AIM OF EDUCATION. THERE can be no doubt lations of

Lord Verulam

that

was

chiefly the specu-

that fired the imagination of

Comenius, and led him to conceive hopes of reducing existing learning to a systematic form, and providing

all

more ambitious youth of Europe,

for all the

a great

College, opportunities for the universal study

Pansophic To this universal and of the whole body of science. systematised learning he gave the name of Pansophia or Encyclopaedia. benefits

which would

was

arise

filled with high hopes of the from a revision and arrange-

ment of human knowledge with

many men

hopes which he shared it would be

of his time, and which

rash for us to say were without sufficient foundation.

The

title

Pansophy, its

of one of his treatises

possibility

'A Prelude

which the necessity of universal wisdom,

and

its

practicability

(if it

be approached

according to a certain method) is briefly and clearly demonstrated.' He draws a picture of the confusion

The Educational System.

of existing knowledge, and the inadequacy of the treatment of its various departments. He attributes this to the ignorance of those

one place of what had

been done elsewhere, and to the too great specialisation of inquirers. The writer on jurisprudence was ignorant, it

might be, of philosophy and physics, the writer on ignorant of metaphysics, the writer on

physics was

metaphysics and ethics ignored physics ; and so forth. Hence inadequacy of treatment ; hence, too, the frag-

mentary presentation of all knowledge. To cure this it was necessary that there should be an authorised

and systematised view of

all

learning arranged in a

Men

who, in the higher departments of education, had been disciplined in this encyclopaedia, would have an universal culture that would philosophic order.

enable them to prosecute special branches with greater He called on learned men to

firmness and accuracy.

enable him by their contributions

a book, or series of books. spirit

construct

method

;

such

while the

of the Baconian induction was in him, in so far

he based knowledge on observation and on advancing from particulars to generals, he had not grasped inducas

tion in

points

its

out,

trusted,

true significance.

the

and the processes and

to supplement, correct,

all

For,

Bacon himself

senses by themselves are not to be

knowledge was

of a true investigation are verify them.

to lead to

God, and

God

revealed through Christ, Comenius spoke of his encyclopaedism as a Christian Pansophy, and called the vari-

ous sections Pansophy.'

the seven parts of the temple of Christian

The

first

part

was

show the necessity

The Great and

Didactic.

temple and to give its external be called the Templi Sapientiae second part was to give the first

possibility of the

structure or outline

Propylaeum.

The

approach to a knowledge of general apparatus

all

of wisdom

knowable things a which the highest

genera and fundamental principles and axioms were to be exhibited, from which, as the primal sources of truth, the streams of

all

The

called the Porta.

was to exhaust

sciences flow and third part (the

diverge,

primum Atrium}

The fourth (the Atrium man and reason the fifth part

visible nature.

medium) was to

treat of

;

(Atrium internum), of man's essential nature and responsibility, and the repair of man's will as the beginning of the spiritual

life.

The

free-will

in Christ

sixth part

(Sanctum sanctorum) was to be theological, and here man was to be admitted to the study and worship of

God and

his revelation, that thereby

embrace God as the centre of eternal

he might be led to life. The seventh

aquarum viventiuni) was to expound the use wisdom and its dissemination, so that the whole

part (Fans

of true

world might be filled with a knowledge of God. This is a sketch of a Pansophic scheme of knowledge

and of a corresponding Pansophic University. The same ideas worked out as applicable to a Secondary or Latin School will be found in the sequel under the desig-

'The Inner Organisation of a Pansophic School.' Comenius was a thoroughgoing Realist in education,

nation,

but he combined with this a fervent evangelicalism indeed, his whole purpose was to lead youth to God :

through things

God

as the source of

all,

and

as the

crown of knowledge and the end of life. I have chosen to introduce the educational reader

The Ediicational System.

to Comenius in connection with his Pansophic schemes, because they are the key to his intellectual life and his educational aims. For it will be seen in the sequel that the idea of a Christian Pansophy never deserts

him, and that, from his is

purpose

mother-school

to give to children

upwards, his

and boys the elements of

universal knowledge adapted to the various stages of

school

life.

psedism in education paedism),

and as the

the

representative

of encyclo-

(in his case a Christian encyclofirst

exhaustive writer on general

method, that Comenius claims our attention. As a type of the realistic and encyclopaedic school ef Educationalists,

will

shall

Comenius his

now

give

an account of those works of

which he endeavoured to give effect to Pansophic educational views and his methods.

The 1

probably never be superseded.

'Great Didactic"

The word

full title

(Magna

Didactica)

of singular number, and of the book is as follows : is

Ars

arrests

first

understood.

The

DIDACTICA MAGNA; UNIVERSALE OMNES OMNIA DOCENDI ARTIFICIUM EXHIBENS

Sive certus et exquisitus modus, per omnes alicujus Christiani Regni communitates, Oppida et Vicos, tales erigendi Scholas, ut Omnis utriusque sexus Juventus, nemine usquam neglecto, Literis informari,

Moribus expoliri, Pietate imbui, eaque ratione intra ad omnia quae praesentis et futurae vitae sunt

pubertatis annos instrui possit,

Compendiose, Jucunde, Solide Ubi omnium quae suadentur, Fundamenta, ex ipsissima rerum natura eruuntur Veritas, artium Mechanicarum, parallelis exemplis demonstratur :

Annos, Menses, Dies, Horas, disponitur Via denique in effectum haec feliciter

Series, per

deducendi,

facilis et certa ostenditur.

;

The Great

Didactic.

our attention, because it was put forth as a systematic treatment of the whole question of Education. Here our object will be to make Comenius speak as much as possible for himself.

prefatory remarks

his

Comenius

us that the

tells

Great

the

Didactic,

Didactic Art has to be

studied in the interests of Parents, Teachers, Pupils, the

Commonwealth, the Church, and Heaven. '

Quidnam,' says

fundamentum

Diogenes the

est

Adolescentium edu-

totius reipublicae ?

Haud enim unquam

catio.

Pythagorean,

fructum proIt is our bounden

vites utilem '

quae non bene sunt excultae.' he adds, 'to consider the means whereby the whole body of Christian youth may be stirred to vigour tulerint

duty,'

mind and the love of Heavenly

things.'

General Statement of Aim.

Man

the

last,

the most complete, and the most

excellent of living creatures. II. life is

The

final

or Spiritual. the

end of man

lies

beyond

threefold, viz., Vegetative, Animal,

body

The

first

this

and

nowhere manifests

This

life.

Intellectual

itself

outside

the second stretches forth to objects through

;

the operations of the senses

;

the third

able to exist

separately as well as in the body, as in the case of

Angels.

gradum a

'Jam quia evidens

est,

supremum hunc

vitae

prioribus valide in nobis obumbrari et prae-

pediri, necessario

deducatur.'

sequitur futurum esse ubi in

The Educational System.

76 This

III.

The

life.

life

visible

only a preparation for an eternal is a seed-plot, a boarding-house

world

and training-school

for

man.

'As certainly as the period spent

womb

certainly

that

a preparation for the

life

in the

mother's

in the

body, so

the dwelling in the body a preparation for

take up the present and endure he who has brought forth from Happy

life

ever.

which

will

mother's

womb

times he

who

for his

happier a thousand carries hence a well-formed soul.'

well-formed limbs

IV. There are three steps of preparation for Eternity.

secum omnia, nosse; Regere;

'Se, et

Deum

Dirigere.' It is

accordingly required of

(i.) (2.)

He He

should

know

man

that

all things.

should have power over

all

things and

over himself. (3.)

should refer himself and

all

things to God,

the Source of All.

These requirements are summed up in the words Eruditio, Virtus seu Mores Honesti, Religio seu Pietas, Knowledge, Virtue, and

Piety.

All else

merely

accidental and extrinsic.

V. The seeds of these three (Knowledge, Virtue, and Religion) are in us by Nature, i.e. our first original and fundamental nature, to which we are to be recalled by

God

in Christ.

It is as certain that

Men

has been born

fit

for the

understanding of things, the harmony of morals, and the love of God, as that there are roots to a tree.

The Great Didactic,

wisdom

omniscient, and the globular mirror

in its

man it is

sweep

Again, seeds of

Man

all

fit

to acquire all

God

the image of God.

in a

The body,

are limited, but the

capable of

a polished

chamber, which receives

things.

all

mind

the voice,

unlimited

things.

a microcosm in which are enfolded the

all things,

as well as of all knowledge.

as inhabiting a natural body, are

and

has placed the roots

mind of man

hung up

the forms (species) of

man.

knowledge, because he

the vision of

God

or Eruditio.

KNOWLEDGE, of eternal

attached

him,

emissaries

scouts, viz., his senses of seeing, hearing, smelling,

taste,

and touch.

is implanted in man a desire to know, and not a of labour, but an appetite for labour. tolerance merely

There

The senses, e.g., seek about for objects. The mind may be compared to the not receive

all

kinds of seeds

? or,

earth, for

does

as Aristotle said, to

a tabula rasa, on which nothing is inscribed, but on which everything may be inscribed ; or the brain may

be compared to wax, on which every form may be for which the wisdom of God is to be imprinted ;

has made it, though small, capable of innumerable impressions. receiving Most fitly perhaps, is the mind to be compared to

admired,

who

a mirror, which reflects accurately before

all

that

placed

it.

VIRTUE, or Mores Honesti. He are connate with man.

morum.

The is

seeds of moral

adapted

the motions of the

soul

life

harmoma

the

principal

for

The Educational System.

78 wheel

the

The

will.

weights which drive this wheel is as a

are the affections and appetites, but the reason

movable bolt which opens and shuts the entrance of these, and suspends or directs. So

PIETY, or Religio. in

man,

man

for

longs after

striving,

and

also are the roots of religion

he not the image of God

its

God is summum bonum

likeness.

this is the

wholly extinguished by the Fall. our restoration in the new Adam.

own

willingly to its

true nature,

the grace of the

holy than

it is

Holy

The

soul of

the end of

its

a longing not

are not to forget

Everything returns

and

it is

easier for

wise, good,

Spirit, to

man, and

for his adventitious depravity to stop his

progress.

Nature gives the seeds of knowledge, morality, and but it does not give knowledge, virtue, and

religion,

religion

These have to be

themselves.

Hence man

animal

truly called

striven

for.

disciplinabile, since

he cannot truly become a man except through disciMan, then, has to be educated to become a pline.

Even to use The mind,

man. cated.

needs discipline

;

weak or

but this

understanding; for as rich

grows weeds and so

is it

with the

Education

thistles in

man to

stupid,

all

admit,

true even of the capable soil,

not rightly

tilled,

more than usual abundance,

of natural talent.

be carried out while the mind

tender and the brain

being

he has to be edu-

his limbs aright,

soft.

may be educated

And

order that the

to full humanity,

God

yet

human

has given

The Great Didactic. him fit

certain years of childhood during which he

for active life

;

and

that only

firm

and

stable

not

which

has been imbibed during the earliest years. The care of children belongs properly to their parents, but they need the help of those specially set apart for education

there

preceptores, ludimagistri, professores

and

consequently, a need for schools and colleges.

is,

Schools should be instituted in every part of the empire, and the whole of the youth of both sexes should be sent Schools have been truly called humanitatis

to these.

(workshops or manufactories of Humanity), A rational trained to be i

officinae

man may be

where

creature

himself;

;

creature lord of other creatures and of creature which shall be the joy of his

Creator.

That only

truly officina

wisdom

a school, Comenius says, which

hominum, where minds are instructed where souls and their

to penetrate all things,

affections are virtues,

call

guided to the universal harmony of the

and hearts are allured

divine love,

'ubi

omnes omnia omnino doceantur.' Luther, in 1525, in his exhortation to the States of the Empire to erect schools, desires, inter alia, these

two things (i) That in all cities, towns, and villages schools be instituted to teach all the youth of both sexes so that those engaged in agriculture and trades '

;

might receive two hours' daily instruction in letters, morals, and religion. (2) That they should be instructed according to

some

easier

method, which would

not only not deter from study, but allure to

it,

so that

The Educational System.

they should derive no less pleasure from their studies than from their games.' But even now, ubi universales '

scholae

illae

ubi blanda

ilia

methodus

Even those

that exist for the wealthier classes are a terror to boys

and torture-chambers of minds.

moral training

and manners, even the Universities are bad. why all this ? Because de bene vivendo in '

They have sought only know-

quaestio nulla movetur.' ledge, not morality

And how have that they spend

and

And scholis

religion.

In such a way more years over what

they sought this?

five, ten,

or even

could be done in one year.

What

capable of being

and poured into the mind in the gentlest way is violently stuffed in and stamped in. What might be the eyes is and before clearly placed perspicuously instilled

presented in an obscure, perplexed, and intricate way. The mind is nowhere nourished with the true kernel

of things, but with the mere husk of words. As to the study of the Latin tongue good Heavens

how

laborious,

scullions, cooks,

how and

intricate,

how

prolix!

soldiers will learn

Mere

one, two, or

more quickly than the pupils of learn Latin only ; and these know

three foreign tongues

our schools will of

little

must

it,

arise

guished

and are dependent on their lexicons. from a bad method. Well may the

Lubinus

say that,

when he

thinks

This distin-

the

immense labour, tedium, and loss in the teaching of Latin, he is disposed to think that the method must have been invented by some the

human

race.

evil

genius

an enemy of

But why multiply testimony?

The Great myself

youth

Didactic.

an unhappy instance of wasted boyhood and years misspent, the memory of which I recall

with tears and sighs. But the past us do better for our posterity.

irrevocable.

Let

Aim of Education according proceeds to treat of Method, taking the operations of external nature as his guide. So much

for the general

to Comenius.

He now

The

parallelism

throughout forced, and often

fanciful.

METHOD.

Second

Section.

THE METHOD OF EDUCATION. REFORMATION tion of schools (i.)

(2.)

And

(3.)

And

(4.)

may be

instructed save those to

has denied intelligence. instructed in

and

that, as

him

And

undertake an organisa-

whereby

wise, good,

as will set

possible.

All the youth

whom God man

all

a preparation for

free before

that,

those things which

make

holy.

life,

such a time

adult.

without blows, severity, or compulsion,

but most lightly, gently, and, so to speak, spontaneously. (5.) And that, in such a way that they shall be trained, not to specious solid learning,

and

superficial,

to the use of their

but to true and

own

faculties.

not to dependence on others or on mere memory.

With and

like solidity will

they be instructed in morality

religion.

(6.)

And that,

so that the course of instruction shall

not be laborious, but very easy

;

four hours a day being

sufficient.

Order

that

sustains nature in

the soul of the world

all its parts.

;

order

The Great Order too

Didactic.

the eye of the school, and

we must

take from nature the order of the school.

Our

business

to discover from the indications of

nature the principles which underlie the answers to the following queries (i.)

How

life

may be

so prolonged as to enable us

to learn all things. (2.)

How

arts

may be

shortened with a view to rapid

learning. (3.)

How we may

seize

the

right

occasions

for

learning so as to learn Surely. (4.)

How we may

unlock the mind so as to learn

How we may

sharpen the understanding so as

Easily, (5.)

to learn Solidly.

Omitting other points, let us consider the three problems contained in the words surely, easily, solidly

CERTO, FACIL, SOLID.

Certo, or Surely.

F 2

The Educational System,

CERTO, or SURELY.

How are

to teach

and

learn surely,

so as to be

i.e.

sure of our result ?

This is to be done by finding the modus operandi of Nature, and accommodating ourselves to that, as follows

1 :

Nature attends

FIRST PRINCIPLE.

a fit

time.

Birds do not begin the work of multiplying their species

So with other natural operations, such as the

in winter.

growth

in a

garden

;

the season determines

for exercising the

all.

do not choose a

in the teeth of this, schools

minds of pupils

;

Right time

fit

and they do not so

accurately arrange the exercises as to insure that things advance infallibly through their

own

all

successive

steps.

Just as Nature chooses spring as the time of preparation for future products, so the right time

the spring of

life.

The

morning hours, which

boyhood

right time of the day

the spring of the day;

to arrangement of studies,

may be

that nothing should be taught except

said,

when

and

the as

generally, it

can be

comprehended.

SECOND PRINCIPLE. itself before

gives

Nature prepares material for

it form.

In the school-books, matter does not precede form. 1

It will

be noticed that successive principles yield the same or

similar rules.

Hence considerable

repetition.

The Great

Didactic.

In schools also they teach words before things

mere clothing or husk of words before the

Then

the

reality itself.

study of a language they teach form before things, because they teach rules before words and sentences. They give rules and then examples, in

the

whereas the light ought to precede that which it is intended to light up. In all instruction it is necessary that, having got ready the necessary books and materials:

(i.)

The under-

standing be instructed before speech is demanded; (2.) That no language should be learned from a Gram-

mar, but from suitable authors, that real studies should

precede organic (formal),

come

and that examples should

before rules.

THIRD PRINCIPLE.

Nature takes a

operation, or at least takes care that

fit subject

for

its

made fit.

Wherefore (i.)

Let him who goes to school remain steadily

there.

Whatever study is taken up for treatment, let the minds of the pupils be predisposed towards it (and (2.)

prepared for it). out of the path of (3.) Let all obstacles be removed the pupils.

FOURTH PRINCIPLE. its

works,

but

Nature

does not confuse itself in

advances distinctly

one thing

after

another.

Wherefore

let

pupils

be occupied with only one

The Educational System.

study at a time a time.

;

that

FIFTH PRINCIPLE.

from within outwards,

to say, teach only

Nature e.g.

one thing

begins all its operations

tree

grows from within,

etc.

Teachers err herein, that instead of diligently explaining and articulating everything, they would acquit themselves of their task of instructing youth,

by speaking,

and exercising memory. Wherefore

dictating,

(i.)

Let the understanding of things be first formed, memory exercised on what is understood, and

then the

only in the third place, speech and hand (i.e. writing). (2.) The teacher should attend to every way of opening the intelligence, and must apply

SIXTH PRINCIPLE.

and

Nature

them

begins all its formation

thence proceeds to specialise

from generals, warms and nourishes the whole mass of does not form feet, but,

first

fitly.

and there

sends

its

the canvas roughly with chalk,

creative So,

specialises.

a painter in painting a portrait does not draw nose, then the ears, etc., but outlines the whole

So with

the head, then the wings, then the

having warmed the whole,

force into the special parts,

in.

e.g.

the egg, and

first

man on

and then proceeds

instruction, the outline should

first

the

fill

be given.

Wherefore (i.)

From

(principles

the very beginning of their instruction, the

or)

should be given.

essential

groundwork of

all learning

The Great Didactic. Every language, science, or

(2.)

learned

should

art

Thus

simplest rudiments.

in' its

87 first

the idea of

the whole, as a whole, will be grasped ; then, more fully, and examples should be given ; thereafter, pecu-

rules

liarities

and anomalies; and

necessary, com-

finally, if

mentaries, etc.

SEVENTH PRINCIPLE.

Nature

saltum, but step by

step.

insensible degrees.

So, a

does

not proceed per

The hatching goes on by man building a house does

not begin from the top but from the foundation, and

by step he rears his Wherefore

step

structure.

The whole sphere of studies should be tributed carefully among the successive classes of

dis-

(i.)

the

school in such a manner that the earlier study always prepares the

way

for

what

to follow, and, as

were,

lights the

path to it. The time at the teacher's disposal should be

(2.)

carefully distributed, so that its

own

peculiar task

may

await every year, month, day, hour.

This distribution of the time should be most

(3.)

closely attended over,

to,

and nothing put

EIGHTH PRINCIPLE. not stop

till it

that its

nothing

wrong

passed

order.

Nature, when

has completed

may be it

once begins, does

its task.

Wherefore (i.)

He who

handed over

retained there until he structed, moral,

and

to the school should

ready to come forth an in-

religious

man.

The Educational System,

88 (2.)

(3.)

The school should be in an undisturbed locality. 1 What has been laid down to be done should be

strictly carried

on on the

lines laid

down, and no gap

permitted. (4.)

one should be allowed to absent himself on

any pretext.

NINTH PRINCIPLE. is

to its

contrary

Nature

carefully avoids

whatever

operations or hurtful.

Wherefore (i.)

Permit a scholar the use of no books save those

which have to do with his own (2.)

The books should be

class.

so constructed that they

may

with truth be called channels of Wisdom, Morality,

and

Piety.

(3.)

Dissolute associates in or out of school are not tolerated.

II.

FACILE, or EASILY.

have exhibited the principles in accordance with

which the work can be done with proceed to pleasantly.

show

that

This

will

be the case

certainty.

Now we

can also be done easily and if

we attend

to the

following ten principles (many of which repeat what has

been already laid down). I. Let the education begin

early, before the

corrupted. -

This belongs rather to the Third Principle.

mind

The Great Didactic. II.

Let

be done with due preparation of the

Let

proceed from the more general to the

mind. III. special.

IV.

And

from the easy to the more

difficult.

V. Let no one be weighted with too much to VI. Let progress be slow everywhere. VII. Let

what

the

intellect

learn.

be forced to nothing save

spontaneously desires in accordance with

its

age and with right method.

VIII. Let everything be communicated through the senses,

IX.

And

X. Let the

turned to present use. all

things be taught according to one

and

same method.

Let us follow the steps of Nature as

illustrative

the above principles.

FIRST PRINCIPLE.

Nature begins from pure

elements.

The egg which is to be hatched is pure. The tender minds we seek to train should be free from distractions and uncorrupted. Wherefore Let the education of youth begin early. Let there be only one preceptor in each subject each pupil (i.e. do not send the child from one

(i.)

(2.)

for

master to another in the same subject). (3.) Before all, let the morals be reduced to harmony under the influence of the preceptor.

The Educational System.

SECOND PRINCIPLE. that

Nature predisposes

matter so

shall seek form.

The

bird hatched desires to walk and to peck, and

finally desires to fly.

Wherefore (i.)

stirred

The

desire of

knowing and learning

in boys in every way.

edV ^s <iAo^a07s tvy

(Isoc.)

TroAv/ia^rjs.

Let the method of teaching lessen the labour of learning, so that nothing be a stumbling-block to the (2.)

pupil and deter from perseverance in study.

This ardour to acquire

who should learning

ready to

;

by teachers, who should be kind, paternal, and ; by schools, which should be plea-

commend

sant rooms, well lighted, clean, etc.

;

be excited by parents,

evince their respect for schoolmasters and

and adorned with pictures,

the things which the pupils study, which should

be so presented as to attract; by the method, which should be the natural method; and by magistrates, who should

be present

at examinations

THIRD PRINCIPLE. beginnings,

and

distribute rewards.

Nature draws out

all things from

which in their bulk are small, in

their virtue

strong.

Note

in connection with this

summed up (2.)

That every

rules,

rule

very

(i.)

short,

be conceived

That every but

very

art

exact.

words as brief as

(3.) That numerous examples be given they are lucid. with each rule, so that the applications of the rule,

however various, may be

clear.

The Great Didactic. FOURTH PRINCIPLE. easy to the

Nature proceeds from the

by the equally unknown, and many other will be amended if

The

known tongue.

the

speak

If the study of

the pupil being

to understand, then to write,

and

finally to

(which, being extemporaneous, is the most diffi(5.) If, when Latin words are given with verna-

cular, the vernacular words, as

being best known, always

(6.) If the material of study be so arranged

first.

which

that the scholar learns first that

that

(4.)

cult).

come

be given in a

grammar and lexicon be the vernacular) by means of

new tongue advance by degrees first

which

(3.) If every

adapted to that tongue (i.e. which the new is to be learned.

taught

unknown

faults

teacher speak the same vernacular as the

(2.) If all explanations of things

boy.

difficult.

find Latin rules taught in Latin

(i.)

the

which

finally that

trations

near, then that

which

most remote

from theology or

politics,

(e.g.

nearest, then

more remote, and do not seek illus-

but from things at hand

boys be first exer1 then the and then the cised, memory, intelligence,

and

familiar).

(7.) If the senses of

For science takes its beginning judgment. from the senses, and thence passes into the memory through imagination, then by induction of singulars an finally the

understanding of universals

formed, and finally a

judgment as to things understood takes

effect,

giving

the certitude of science. 1

Intelligence should precede of the generalising power.

memory, but the term

here used

The Educational System.

Nature

FIFTH PRINCIPLE. but

does not overweight

content with few things at

demand two

a time

e.g. it

itself,

does not

birds out of one egg.

SIXTH PRINCIPLE. proceeds slowly

e.g.

Nature

slow

does not

hurry

itself,

but

the hatching of the bird.

Wherefore (i.)

Spend

as few hours as possible in public lessons;

four being the right number, as

many more being

left

for private study. (2.) Fatigue the memory as little as possible, only fundamental things being exacted, all else being allowed

to flow freely. (3.)

Proportion

all

things to the

according to the progress of years

grow of

capacity, which,

and

studies, will

itself.

SEVENTH PRINCIPLE.

Nature pushes nothing forcibly

forward, except what, being already inwardly matured, desires to burst forth the bird does not urge its e.g.

young to fly till their wings are ready. Let nothing, then, be done against the grain. The want of desire frequently arises from want of previous preparation and explanation.

Wherefore (i.)

Let nothing be attempted with youth except

those things which their age and ability not only admit of but desire. (2.) Let nothing be prescribed as a memory-task which has not previously been thoroughly understood. (3.) Let nothing be prescribed to be done till the

The Great Didactic. form of

and the

rule of imitation have

EIGHTH PRINCIPLE. way

e.g.

been

suffi-

and impressed.

ciently pointed out

possible

-Nature assists

there

warmth

is vital

itself in every

in the

egg

itself,

as well as in the maternal incubator.

Boys must be so

understand what

far assisted as to

The teacher who demands a task given them to do. without sufficient explanation and preparation is as cruel as a nurse

who would

put an infant on the ground and must bear patiently with weakness.

to walk.

tell it

Wherefore (i.)

Let no

stripes

(for if the

boy does not

teacher's,

who

inflicted

learn,

either does not

(2.)

their

make

the

it ?).

that they see

in order that everything

easily, let

as clearly as

e.g.

let

to the ears, but the teacher

imagination.

imprinted

hearing be joined with

and the hand with speech.

eyes, that through

may be

the senses be applied to the subject

as often as possible

tell

studies

save the

five fingers.

And

vision,

Let what the pupils have to learn be so placed

them and explained

own

(3.)

the

fault is

know how

pupil docile, or does not care to

before

on account of

whose

them the

Leave nothing

It is

must present

instruction until

not enough to

may

to the

reach the

has been impressed

by means of the ear, the eye, the tongue, the hand. Write up on the walls (or draw) the substance of your Thus the pupils will also acquire the habit teaching. of writing

down

in their note-books.

The Educational System.

NINTH PRINCIPLE. Nature produces nothing the use of which is not ultimately apparent e.g. wings and feet are found to be formed for flying and running. Wherefore Let nothing be taught except

for manifest use.

TENTH

does all things uniformly

Nature

PRINCIPLE.

one bird

e.g.

in the

same way

all

Let there be one and the same method

for

produced

other birds.

Wherefore (i.)

instructing in all sciences arts

one and the same

;

Let there be

(2.)

;

one and the same in

all

in all tongues.

for all school-exercises the

same

order and manner of procedure.

Use

(3.)

the same editions of books throughout

III.

Few This

To I.

give a solid

1 SOLIDE, Or SOLIDLY.

amount of

instruction to scholars.

a general complaint.

cure these evils

Let only things

be treated

likely to

be of

solid advantage

of.

II. All these should be taught without separating any of them from the curriculum. 1

is in this chapter a good deal of forcing in order to run on ten principles like the preceding. It is enough to enumerate the principles without going into all the details.

There

make

The Great Didactic. III.

IV.

That

solid basis should

basis should

laid for each.

laid deep.

Let everything subsequently aimed at

rest

same foundations.

these

VI. Wherever distinctions are to be made, let these be distinctly and most articulately made. VII. Let all studies which follow be founded on those that

go before. VIII. Let all things which as a matter of be always connected in teaching. IX.

fact

cohere

Let everything be arranged according to

true relation to the understanding, the

its

memory, and the

speech.

Let everything be firmly implanted by continual

exercises.

FIRST PRINCIPLE.

Nature

begins nothing that will be

useless.

Wherefore (i.)

schools

Let nothing be taught which

solid utility for this life (2.)

some

and the

not of the most

next.

things have to be instilled into youth

only for the sake of this

life, let

them be of such a kind

as will not hinder the interests of the eternal

as will produce solid fruit for this

SECOND PRINCIPLE. be of benefit to the body

Therefore

life,

and

life.

Nature omits nothing

likely to

it is forming.

that

'in

schools there must be not

merely knowledge, but also morals and

piety.

The Educational System.

THIRD PRINCIPLE.

Nature

does nothing without a

foundation or root.

Wherefore (i.)

The

be excited (2.)

The

love of any studies that are begun should in the pupil.

idea

be taught

(i.e.

outline or sketch) of the subject

language or art should first be given In this way a foundation

before going to particulars. is

laid in the

mind of the

pupil.

FOURTH PRINCIPLE. Nature sends its roots deep. The general idea of the subject to be taught must therefore

be deeply impressed.

FIFTH PRINCIPLE.

Nature produces everything from

a root ; nothing from any other Wherefore (i.)

Let

all

things be

source.

deduced from the unchange-

able elements of things. (2.) Let nothing be learned by authority, but by demonstration, sensible or rational.

Let nothing be taught by the analytic method tut rather by the synthetic. only, (3.)

SIXTH PRINCIPLE. which

Nature, the more the uses for

prepares anything, the more articulately does

differentiate it

into parts.

Wherefore Let there be no confusion in instruction.

SEVENTH PRINCIPLE. is

Nature, in each of its works, and never attempts

in perpetual progress, never halts,

The Great Didactic. neiv things, the continues

former things being

what has

cast aside, but only

been previously begun, increases

it,

and

it.

perfects

Wherefore (i.)

Let

all

studies

be so arranged that the subse-

be founded in what has preceded, quent and be strengthened by them. things shall

Let everything which is presented to the pupil, and rightly understood, be fixed in the memory. (2.)

EIGHTH PRINCIPLE.

Nature binds

together everything

by continuous bonds.

Wherefore (i.)

Let the studies of the whole

life

be so arranged

one encyclopaedia, in which there be nothing which does not arise out of a common

that they shall be shall

nothing not in its proper place. Let everything that is taught be so strengthened by reasons that no room shall be left for doubt or root,

(2.)

forgetfulness.

And

further, let

all

things

be taught

through their causes.

NINTH PRINCIPLE. and

Nature

preserves,

branches, a true proportion in

respect

between root

of quantity and

quality.

Wherefore (i.)

Let everything taught be at once a subject of be learned

reflection as to its use, lest anything should

no purpose

(i.e.

the root of knowledge must spread

out into the branches of

its

various applications).

The Educational System.

98 (2.)

Let everything that

to others, that nothing

TENTH itself

learned be communicated

may be known to no purpose.

PRINCIPLE.

Nature

develops

and strengthens

by frequent movement.

There must therefore

and

repetitions

Comenius

in everything

exercises.

This

be very frequent

pressed strongly by

for various reasons.

Hence The significance Multa rogare

Haec

tria

of the well-known distich

Retenta docere. rogata tenere discipulum faciunt superare magistrum. :

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT IN RELATION TO SURE, SOLID, AND EASY INSTRUCTION. Comenius next proceeds to give suggestions for school This was in his case a demand which management. the reader was entitled to make, because the contem-

plated course of instruction was encyclopaedic, and it accordingly was difficult to see how the work could be life. He held that by due time, by pursuing good methods, and by basing all instruction in language on the Realities of Knowledge, it was possible to carry youth with ease

done

in the ordinary school

beginning in

and certainty through a Pansophic curriculum. The reasons why more rapid progress is not made schools are, he says, these

Because there are no

marking distinctly how far pupils are to be any one year, month, and day. (2.) Because

fixed goals

carried in

(i.)

The Great Didactic. no way (3.)

marked out of

infallibly

reaching these goals.

Because things that are joined together by nature

are not taken

as connected, but

separately.

E.g.

Boys are employed

in learning to read long before they

are taught to write.

In Latin, again, boys are required

to struggle with the accidence

and grammar

with mere words without things.

rules,

and

then goes on to out defects as to the inner point organisation of schools the masters, the classes, and the books in all which

animadversions he

undoubtedly right; but as the most part no longer

defects to which he alludes for the exist in schools,

we may pass

which he lays down. He maintains that one teacher

once to the general

rules

will

suffice for

the

any number of boys. It seems to have been the custom to teach boys either individually, or two or three together, in Comenius's time. Comenius instruction of

was consequently right in maintaining that a considerBut able number could be taught together in a class. he places no experience

tells

limit

us there

sufficiently taught.

the is

number.

Our modern

limit, if the class is to

Comenius admits

that the teacher

of one hundred boys

whether

all

could not personally ascertain did and understood their work; but by

arranging them in tens, and putting one of the boys (whose work he had ascertained to be accurate) over

each troop of ten, he might check their exercises and The troops of ten he calls Dereport to the master. curiae,

and

Then he

their captains Decuriones.

gives various practical directions for teaching

The Educational System.

ioo

a large class, most of which are admirable. E.g. The teacher must make all attentive to himself, and this (i.)

pleasing and (2.)

bringing before his pupils something

By always

profitable.

introducing the subject of instruction in such

a way as to

commend

intelligences into activity

ing

to them, or

stirring their

inciting questions regard-

it.

(3.)

standing in a place elevated above the class,

and requiring

eyes to be fixed on him.

all

(4.) By aiding attention through the representation of everything to the senses as far as possible. (5.)

interrupting his instruction

pertinent questions

e.g.

by frequent and

aut tu quid

modo

dixi?

etc. etc. (6.) If fail

the boy

to answer,

thirtieth,

who

has been asked a question should

by leaping

to the second, third, tenth,

and asking the answer without repeating

the

question. (7.)

one

in the

(8.)

when

occasionally

whole

class,

demanding an answer from any and thus stirring up rivalry.

giving an opportunity to any to ask questions

the lesson

finished.

In the correction of the numerous written exercises

which Comenius would

give,

would be necessary,

course, to call in the aid of the Decuriones.

Comenius next speaks of the necessity of all boys using the same books and same editions, and the importance of a careful construction of school-books.

The Great

101

Didactic.

such careful

next advocates the necessity of

school-order as will insure that the same thing

by all at the same Then, that all be taught according

done

time.

the same

method. Next, that few, but

words be used

select,

for

the

explanation of things.

next considers

how two

or three things can be

done together (i.) Let words always be conjoined with :

Thereby we

shall learn

about '

est,'

says Seneca, Ep.

ix.,

realities.

non

things.

Id agendum

verbis serviamus sed

Let the exercises of reading and writing be always conjoined. (3.) Let exercises in style be not mere exercises in style, but in matter, so that, while they sensibus.'

(2.)

exercise the mind, they also attain

Let what

(4.)

by them.

(5.)

in a sportive

learnt

Let the serious things of

way

in school-exercises,

successful

may

be imitated

rivalries

may

knowledge

(col-

and the pupils who are most

dubbed Licentiate

be dubbed,

or Doctor. Again, they connection with other studies, Kings,

Councillors, Chancellors, Secretaries,

Let everything advance step by

solid result.

life

e.g.

instituted in certain departments of

lecting of plants, etc.),

all

some

by the pupils be again taught

step.

and so (7.)

forth.

(6.)

prevent

delay and retardation of progress, drop out whatever irrelevant or superfluous or too detailed.

The Art of Education.

Third

Section.

THE ART OF EDUCATION THE APPLICATION OF METHOD TO PRACTICE i.e.

WE have now given a view of Education, in respect of

remaining half of the

Comenius's Theory of The of Method.

Aim and

treatise,

though forming a con-

tinuation of the parts which precede

indication of a division,

of the theory of

cation

repetition

without any in point of fact the appli-

Method

it,

to the

Praxis,

and

unavoidable.

Comenius recognises the labour which his conception of the school and of method demands of the teacher,

and

desires to

show how

and the work made

that labour

possible.

may be

abbreviated

As education was then

conducted, the task which Comenius imposed on teachers

would certainly have been beyond their powers. Accorhe inquires first into the obstructions which so

dingly,

retarded the work of schools, that those

a large part of their respects 1

The

think

division

who had

spent

them had not even paid the Arts and Sciences, much less

their lives in

which

have made

gives a clearer view of his system.

not in Comenius, but

The Great Didactic. acquired a knowledge of them.

103

These obstructions are

presented as follows, and they are generally merely the negation of the positive rules of method already enforced :

(i.) There are no fixed goals marking distinctly how far pupils are to be carried in any one year, month, or

day. (2.)

No way of infallibly reaching these goals is marked

out. (3.)

Things that have a natural connection are not

taken up together, but separately writing, words without things. (4.)

The

arts

e.g.

reading without

and sciences are treated of

in a frag-

mentary way, and not encyclopaedically. (5.) Different schools have different methods of procedure;

teachers in the

nay, different

follow diverse methods,

employ different methods in the which he teaches. will

(6.)

The prevalence of

want of (7.)

same school

and even the same teacher different subjects

individual teaching

and the

classification.

Increase in the

number of masters

meet the

above objection only increases the confusion.

Boys are often allowed by their masters to take books they please, both in school and out of what up (8.)

school, instead of being kept in definite lines with pre-

Boys thus get into a state of mental from which confusion, only the more vigorous spirits scribed books.

ever extricate themselves.

In seeking for remedies, Comenius seeks an analogy

The Educational System.

IO4

though destitute of

in nature, which,

that I

may

Take his rays sufficing

here. in

the heavens.

the diffusion of

does not occupy himself with objects one by but illumines and warms the

a tree or an animal,

one whole (2.)

earth.

himself of (3.)

rise to (4.) is

Sun

of procedure

he discharges a laborious and infinite function for all. And how does he work ?

(i.)

give

the

intrinsic merit, is

mode

yet so characteristic of his fanciful

the same rays he lights all his

and discharges

functions.

same order of operation

preserves the

as he

produces

;

gives

this year, so next.

produces everything out of

and not from any other (6.)

all,

At the same time through all regions he spring and summer, autumn and winter.

to-day, so to-morrow, (5.)

own germ,

its

quarter.

all

things together which ought to

be together. (7.)

produces

all

by their own steps of makes way for another.

things

gradation, so that one thing

he does not produce useless things. In imitation of the Sun and its operation (8.) Finally,

(i.)

Let there be only one teacher

least for (2.) (3.)

-a

for a school, or at

class.

In one subject, let there be but one author. Let one and the same labour be expended on

the whole of the pupils present. (4.)

ing to

Let

all

disciplines

and tongues be taught accord-

one and the same method.

The Great Didactic. (5.)

briefly (6.)

Let

taught from the foundation,

and nervously. Let

which are (7.)

things be

all

be joined together

stability to

to the

(8.)

in teaching

themselves connected.

Let

things

all

things advance

by indissoluble

may

that everything taught to-day

way

105

steps, so

give firmness and

what was taught yesterday, and point the

work of the morrow.

Let everything that

useless be eliminated from

the teaching.

There

a curious parallelism here attempted between

the operations of the sun

and of the schoolmaster, but

I have no always fanciful, and frequently strained. doubt that the analogies of Nature frequently suggested

methods

mind of Comenius, and on the other good school-methods suggested to him the

to the

hand, that

modes of operations

of Nature as they presented them-

selves to the non-scientific apprehension of the time.

Comenius now proceeds

to apply the

principles or rules to school-management,

what he has

to say into the

above eight and throws

form of problems to be

solved.

FIRST PROBLEM.

How

can one teacher

number ofpupils whatsoever

suffice

for any

A large number of pupils is in itself an advantage to both teacher and taught, stimulating the former and exciting sympathy in work and emulation in studies. To

facilitate

the

teaching of a large class by

instructor, certain rules, however,

one

must be attended

to.

The Educational System.

(i.)

The whole

should be divided into certain

class

and over each of these an inspector or decurio should be appointed. (2.) The teacher tribes or decurige,

should teach

and none

at once,

school or privately

in the

(simul

all

et semel).

For

this

it is

separately, either

together and at once

all

necessary that he possess

the art of fixing the attention of

all

on himself, and of

never saying anything except to listeners, and never teaching anything save when all are attending. The decuriones will be a great aid in securing the attention of their various divisions, but the

master himself should

Endeavour always to present some teaching which and profit the pupils.

will please

At the beginning of every

fresh task,

pare the minds of his pupils, by the

new

he should pre-

commending

matter, either

its

by showing what has already been put before, or by questions regarding

as will

and make them more eager

show

them

coherence with starting such

their ignorance,

know.

should take up such a position, somewhat raised, as will enable him to control the eyes and fix the attention of all

himself.

should always assist attention by representing what he teaches to the eyes of the class.

should every

now and

then interrupt his teaching

by sudden questions as to what he has just said, or as to the steps by which he has reached what he is telling them. If

fails

to get an answer from the

has asked a question, he should

boy of

whom

leap to the second,

The Great third, tenth, thirtieth, for

Didactic.

107

an answer, without repeating

the question.

Sometimes,

one or two

fail,

boy who

first

class, praising the

When

the lesson

finished

he should ask the whole answers.

an opportunity should be

given to the pupils to ask public questions of the master, either regarding the lesson then given, or any previous one.

By following these expedients in teaching, the habit of attention is formed in the pupils, not only for the passing occasion, but for their whole

The is

may be made

objection

not sufficient

that there

must be examination of the

individual exercises written,

mitted to

memory mand much time. not necessary that exercise-books be will

and

;

lives.

that this class-teaching

and of the lessons com-

that for this

this

Comenius

many

pupils de-

replies that

it is

be always heard, nor that all the The decurions always examined.

all

examine each the work of

his

own

division.

The

master himself, as supreme inspector, will pick out an exercise to examine here and there, especially directing himself to those

whom

distrusts.

memory-

should be called upon, all the rest listening, to repeat what has been prescribed. Each need say a portion only. In this way, by the tasks, one, or two, or three

examination of a few in no set order, the master cause all to prepare their work. So in dictation,

on one or two a distinct

will call

what they have written in voice, while the rest look on their own books

and correct

to read out

their

own

exercises, the master

pouncing

The Educational System.

io8

down on one

here and there to see that the corrections

are being honestly made.

In the correction of written

exercises

more labour

seems to be demanded; but here too, following the same line, a plan is found of abbreviating work. In

one boy should rise When he has risen,

translation exercises, for example,

up and challenge an antagonist. the challenger should

read his translation, clause by

clause, all the rest attentively listening, the teacher, or

not, a decurion, standing

by to inspect the spelling. he has read a sentence, let him pause, and let the antagonist then point out any error he may have noted.

When Then

members

the other

let

criticisms,

Meanwhile

the teacher himself. at their

of that decuria

and thereafter the whole

their

finally

let all the pupils

look

and make corrections, with the

translations

who

exception of the antagonist, exercise unaltered, to be in

cism.

class,

make and

its

his

own

turn subjected to

criti-

preserves

That sentence being thoroughly corrected, go

Then

the next, and so to the end.

read off his

own

the antagonist

exercise in like manner, under the

inspection of his challenger,

made no

let

corrections.

and so on according

Then

who call

will see that

he has

out another couple,

to the time available, the decurions

taking care that those

their

own

decuriae

correct

In this way it will happen that the labour of the master will be saved ; that all will be

their exercises.

instructed,

and none neglected

;

the attention of

all will

be sharpened; all will share in whatever is said to one the variety of phrases inapplicable will form and ;

The Great Didactic.

109

strengthen the judgment as to the matter of the exercise,

A few pairs and promote facility in the language. having had their errors corrected, it will be seen that there are

now no more

The

rest of

the time

may be given to the class as a whole,

for the

errors remaining.

answering of questions put by the pupils, and for allowing any one to bring forward any turn of expression

which he may think better than that adopted. The above remarks are made with special reference to the version, but they are equally applicable to exercises in Rhetoric, Logic, etc.

Thus Comenius can

solves the

one hundred

suffice for

The second

SECOND PROBLEM.

How

yields this question,

books?

editions, the

requiring

same

problem how one teacher

pupils.

rule of procedure

can all be taught from the same

the

lexicons,

able to publish school-books

pupils

have the same

It is desirgrammar, which will contain, simply etc.

and popularly put, all that it is necessary to teach in school. Comenius advocates the dialogue form for school-books, because they excite the interest and retain the attention better than the didactic form, supporting

by the fact that our lives are spent in and He conversation, dialogues are easily repeated. would further paint on the school-room walls the his preference

skeleton or outline of the contents of the books in use.

THIRD PROBLEM. this question

How

The

third rule of procedure yields

is it possible

that all the scholars

The Educational System.

10 made

do the same thing at the same time ? By beginning school-work only once a year, and arranging it in such a way that every month, week, day, and even be

may

hour, shall have

own proper

its

FOURTH PROBLEM. ing question

one

and

method and

the

for all studies

laid

down

fourth rule yields the follow-

its

There

only one natural

sciences, arts,

be shown

FIFTH PROBLEM.

How

The

can all things be taught according

same method?

this will

been

How

task.

in the sequel,

and languages, and has already

principles.

The

fifth

can the understanding of

rule yields the question:

many

things be set forth

few words ? Fundamental things are to be taught, and this not by means of large books or much talk, but in

by means of well-selected words and. principles, and rules easy to be understood, and fruitful in their character.

leaden

ones.

sown

is of more value than a hundred As Seneca says, 'Precepts are to be mind as seed is sown in the soil, and it is

gold coin

in the

not necessary that they be numerous, but

SIXTH PROBLEM.

How

sixth rule yields the question

can instruction be given so as

things at the

once

The

;

same time ?

so with an animal.

grows in every part at In school we must imitate

by the following general canon let the related be taught and everywhere Always

conjunction with

its

reading with writing,

correlate' etc.

do two or three

tree

Nature, guided '

efficacious.'

e.g.

words with things,

The Great Above

all,

Didactic.

1 1 1

never teach words without things, even

the vernacular, and whatever the pupils see, hear, taste,

them name. The tongue and the intellishould advance on parallel lines. And from this gence it follows that a boy should never read or recite anyor touch, let

thing which he does not understand that

follows

all

authors are to

school except those

who

;

and

further

banished

from

give a knowledge of useful

things.

So with reading and

writing

let

boys be taught not

merely to read, but to express themselves in writing at the same time

and very

an exercise which

valuable.

pleasing to them,

But the exercises should not be

exercises of style merely, but should have reference to

the department of knowledge they are studying e.g. histories of the inventors of arts, and the places and

times in which arts flourished, or,

may

be, exercises

of imitation.

Comenius holds also that boys should teach as well and that sportive imitations of the serious work

as learn,

might advantageously be introduced into the

life

school,

side

by side with serious

employments

e.g.

the boys should be encouraged to form themselves into

a semblance of political and social order, with the titles

of King, Councillors, Chancellor, Marshal, Secre-

taries,

Ambassadors, and so

SEVENTH PROBLEM.

How

forth.

The

seventh rule yields the

can all things be prosecuted step by step ? question Comenius here refers the reader to those parts of the :

The Educational System.

1 1

methodology which deal specially with gradual step-bystep progress.

EIGHTH PROBLEM. The eighth rule yields the quesHow shall we avoid and remove causes of retarda-

tion

our progress

tion in

The answer

? '

It is not a wise neglect.' the quantity of things known, but the real utility of them, that is of importance. Therefore, the school

to this

is,

should neglect whatever is unnecessary, whatever alien to the pupil or subject of study, and whatever too detailed.

ledge which

Unnecessary knowledge is all that knowunnecessary to virtue and religion, and

without which learning

all

attainable

e.g.

of heathen idols and accounts of pagan

the

rites,

comic and other writings which are immoral

names and

all

their

Alien things are such as are foreign to the natural tendency of the scholar. One boy has a turn for character.

theoretic

and another

one

for practical study,

for music,

another for grammar and logic, and so on. It is a waste of time to employ a boy in music who is naturally incapacitated for that subject, while he has strong aptitude for another.

Too much for

detail

also

condemned.

example, to occupy classes,

natural history or botany, with

and animals

plants

study, with the to

do with the

ences

;

when

names of

all

generic, at

these

are fully

It is absurd,

which are studying all

the differences of

arts are the subjects

the tools.

The

school has

most with the leading differand solidly given, the rest

The Great Didactic. will

be acquired through the occasions of

113

Among

life.

things too detailed are such school-books as full lexicons, which only serve to confuse

and overload a boy.

Comenius having dealt thus generally with the Art of School Teaching, next proceeds to apply Method in detail to the teaching of the three branches of all sound education,

Knowledge,

viz.,

i.e.

Sciences

and

Arts,

including Language (Eruditio), Morality (Virtus), and Piety (Rdigio).

METHOD

AS APPLIED TO

(a.)

Science

THE

KNOWLEDGE.

SCIENCES.

the knowledge of things

and of

external sight

internal sight.

the things of for the

former

are needed the eye, the object, and light, which are the

conditions of vision, so for the latter are needed the

eye of the mind, an object, viz. all things, and the light It is essential to a knowledge of the of attention. sciences, viz. 1.

That

This

have

of our

the eye

our

gift

mind

;

but we

own power

not to suffer the looking-glass to be dulled with dust, and its brightness

The

obscured.

of the mind be pure. of God, speaking generally

dust

referred to

vain mental occupations.

over observation,

idle, useless,

and

Unless Reason also preside

shall pick

up dust and chaff instead

of grain. 2.

necessary that

objects be presented to the eye

of the mind.

The Educational System.

1 1

Everything should be presented to as as possible,

namely,

visible

things

senses

many

audible

sight,

things to hearing, odorous things to the smelling sense,

sapid things to the taste, tangible to the touch, and

when

things have reference to

more senses than one,

For the they should be presented to all those senses. is from of from not knowledge sense, beginning pure words

and

;

and certitude are

truth

evidence of the senses.

The

stewards of the memory. Poet.

80)

testified to

by the

senses are the most faithful

Horace

truly says {De Art.

Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem,

quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, et quae Ipse sibi tradit spectator.'

Quam

Failing the objects themselves, diagrams

should be resorted 3.

and

pictures

to.

There must also be the light of attention.

Without

means of

this objects

the

intelligence

alive,

would be

learner

and

in vain presented

receives it

all

;

things with

were gaping,

by an

to receive

instruction.

There must be a method of a firm impression shall be made. 4.

so presenting things that

Objects must be placed before the eyes, not far off, but at a fit distance, directly in front, and not obliquely,

such a way that the whole object will be seen all round, then part by part, and from the beginning to Each individual character should the end, in order. in

be fixed upon

its

till

differences.

everything has been seized correctly

The Great These

considerations

Didactic.

the

sciences yield nine very useful rules

Whatever

is to

known must

115 of the

teaching

be taught.

Perfunc-

tory or negligent treatment of subjects will not suffice.

Whatever

present

The to

taught should be taught as a thing

to the pupil,

and of a

be taught Whatever

and

certain

things around us and

definite use.

their relations to life are

taught should be taught directly, and way i.e. the thing itself, and not

not in a roundabout

elaborate and confused language about a thing. 4.

Everything should be so taught as

show

HOW

it is

and becomes i.e. per causas. To know a thing in its causes is true science. should come first, and posteriora next ; and, 5. Priora therefore,

whatever

presented as an object of knou'ledge

should be presented first generally,

and

thereafter in its

parts. 6. All the parts of a thing should more minute, none being omitted: also, and connection with other things. 7.

All things should

known, even

its

order, situation,

the

be taught successively, but only

one at a time. 8.

Each point should

be insisted on until

it is

compre-

hended. 9.

The

differences

so that there distinguit,

may

of things should be carefully taught, be

bene docet.

things depends

distinct knowledge.

The

variety

Qui

bene

and the truth of

their differences.

It is true that all preceptors are

not equally expert

The Educational System.

1 1

applying method, and to assist them, therefore, the

sciences to be taught should be

books, according to the true

(.)

THE ARTS

By the

(exclusive

expounded in method of teaching.

text-

of Foreign Languages).

Arts Comenius means Reading the vernacular,

Writing, Singing, Composition

Reasoning. teaching in

His remarks

and Rhetoric, Logic or

however, applicable to Technical Schools in the strict and proper

sense of the term technical.

are,

[By Technical' instruction

meant instruction merely elements of physical science generally; at other times, in the elements of science in specific reference to certain arts or trades ; at other times, but this rarely, is,

in these days, very generally

in the

training to specific arts in workshop-schools.]

How

are youth to be trained to the praxis of things?

The answer

to this

given in eleven canons to be done be learned by doing :

Let things that have

them. artists do not teach their apprentices but by disquisitions, by giving them something to do.

Mechanics and

They

are taught to

make anything by making

it,

So we paint by painting, to dance by dancing, etc. should teach to write by writing, to read by reading, to sing 2.

singing, to reason

by reasoning,

Let there always be present

to the

etc.

pupil a

form and norm of the things to be done. The pupil can, as yet, do nothing of must have something

imitate.

definite

himself,

and

ask a boy to

The Great

Didactic.

1 1

make

straight lines, squares, circles, drawings, etc., without setting examples before him, and without giving him the requisite tools, is cruelty. 3.

Let the use of instruments be pointed out in

rather than in words ; that

is to

say, by

reality

example rather

than by precept.

Our grammars

consist of precepts and rules, and exceptions to rules, and limitations of exceptions, so that boys are

overwhelmed and

do not proceed let them look at

in this

Mechanics

stupefied.

way with

their apprentices, but

the products of the workshop, and put and train them to imitate their

tools in their hands,

them more by example than by them go wrong. So it is also that walk, speak, run, and play, viz., by

masters, admonishing

words

they see

children learn to imitation.

Precepts require application and vigour of

mind, whereas the feeblest are assisted by examples.

Quintilian says,

cepta, breve et efficax 4.

Longum

et difficile iter est

per prae-

per exempla.'

Let practice begin from the elements, and not from

completed works.

A carpenter does

not start his pupil with the building him to hold an axe,

of turrets or citadels, but requires

cut wood, bore holes, drive nails, etc.

with his pupil.

book before a

Nor do we teach child, but

acts a painter

to read

by giving him

by placing a

first

the letters,

then syllables, then words. In grammar, accordingly, we should give the tyro first single words, then two together to be declined, then simple sentences, then sentences with two and three clauses, till we bring him

1 1

The Educational System.

and the complete

to the full period

we should

toric,

appropriate phrasis,

exercise in in

epithets,

In rhe-

oration.

synonyms, in attaching sentences

varying

and so gradually bring the pupil

peri-

to the

ornamental parts of style. 5. Let the first exercises of tyros be in a known subject. This has been, in a former part of this treatise, laid

burdened with things remote from their age, powers of comprehension, and this is to cause them to struggle present condition down.

Pupils should not be

That the boy may understand things, take examples, not from Cicero, or Virgil, or theohis book, logians, etc., but from things familiar,

with shadows.

clothes,

house,

trees,

school,

etc.

connect what has to be learned with what

this is

way

already

known, and make remembrance and the further extenIn sion of knowledge in the same direction easy. rules, the application of

a rule being shown from a first, the boy will find it

second, or third

known example,

easy to imitate

in all others.

6. close

imitation 7.

Let imitation be always for a time the direct and imitation of a prescribed rule ; at a later stage the

may

be freer.

Let the things which are given as patterns be as per.

feet as possible, so that perfect in his art

who

we may

be able to pronounce

him

adequately imitates them.

This applies, not merely to the perfection of lines, drawings, etc., to be imitated, but also to instruction in rules,

which should be very

intelligible.

brief,

very lucid and

The Great Let the

strictest

Didactic.

119

accuracy in imitation be insisted on

in the first attempts, so that there

may

not be the slightest

departure from the norm.

This

necessary, because the beginnings

foundations of

all

that

the foundations will

tell

no haste ; he gets on

are the

and any looseness in throughout. There should be

follows,

enough who does not wander

fast

from the road. Let any deviation from accuracy be corrected by the master there and then; but let him add observations by way of rules or directions. 9.

Arts are to be taught by examples rather than by

but very brief and lucid rules, exhibiting what is e.g. from implicit in the examples, should be given

rules

;

what point to start the what way to advance. 10.

and

task, at

perfect discipline in

what point to aim,

an art

consists in synthesis

analysis.

That

to say, a pupil

must

first,

beginning with the in accordance

most simple forms, be taught to construct with a perfect pattern.

This synthetic exercise, with the

help of such rules as have been formerly adverted to as requisite, having been sufficiently practised, the pupils

should be introduced to the analysis of the work of others,

that they

and discuss the

may

see the art in

principles

full

operation,

which underlie successful

work.

Exercises should be continued

art has been formed.

till

the habit of the

The Educational System.

LANGUAGES.

(<:.)

Languages are taught, not as themselves a part of learning or wisdom, but as the instrument of acquiring learning

and wisdom, and communicating them to This would

All tongues are not to be learned.

others.

be as impossible as it would be useless, and interfere with the time due to acquiring a knowledge of Necessary languages, accordingly, are alone to things. be learned, -first, the vernacular ; secondly, the languages of neighbouring nations ; thirdly, Latin, as the common tongue of the learned Theologians will study

Greek and Hebrew, and physicians Greek and Arabic. Nor should the whole of any language be learned, but only what

necessary.

It is

not necessary to learn

to speak Greek and Hebrew as if we had to converse in them, but only to learn them so far as is needful

understanding of what is written in these tongues. study of languages should run parallel with the

for the

The

study of things, especially in youth, for

form men, not From which are

desire to

parrots. it

not to be

follows that words that denote things

learned

separately

and

individually,

because things do not exist separately, but are seen as being here or there, as doing this or that, as conjoined with other things. This is the key to the Janua 1

Linguarum.'

employed,

this

book, only necessary words are

contrary to the practice of

of the book, 1

who

stuff

some

amplifiers

with unusual words, and words,

See the chapter under

this

heading in the sequel.

The Great too,

121

Didactic.

away from the ordinary apprehension of the young. a similar mistake who occupy the minds

And those make

of the young with great authors such as Cicero, instead

of with language that treats of boyish things, reserving adult

things

for the adult.

Knowledge of language by step Nature does nor does art when it imitates

advances, like the

intellect, step

;

not proceed per saltum, Nature. boy must be taught to walk before he can be taught to dance. He must prattle before he speaks,

'and

The

he must speak before he can make an oration. following eight rules will

languages short 1.

and easy

make

the acquisition of

Let every language be learnt separately. the vernacular is to be learned, and then a

First,

neighbouring modern tongue, then Latin, and there-

Hebrew, etc. and, to prevent confusion, them be learned always one after the other, and not When a firm hold has been got of each, they together.

after Greek,

let

may, with great benefit, be compared. 2. Let every language have a definite space of time assigned to

it.

As we must have respect to things, and as the vernacular is more closely and naturally allied with things which present themselves gradually to the

demands more time than any other tongue, eight or ten years

;

that

intellect,

probably

to say, the whole- of infancy,

and part of boyhood. Then should follow a modern tongue, which can be sufficiently acquired in one year

;

may be despatched in two and Hebrew in half a year.

then Latin, which

Greek

in one,

years;

The Educational System.

Let every language be learned by practice rather than

by precept.

That

to say,

by reading, re-reading,

transcribing,

attempting imitations by hand and tongue

all

as often

as possible. 4.

Let precepts, however, aid and strengthen practice.

This has been adverted to

in the last chapter,

and

the acquisition of the learned

specially necessary in

tongues, though applicable also to spoken languages. 5.

Let

the precepts

of language be grammatical, not

philosophical.

That

to say, let

them

state the

what and the how

of a usage, and not enter with subtlety into the

why

This kind of speculation phrases and forms of syntax. is philosophical, not philological. 6.

Let the precepts of a new language be first

known

differences from languages already known. It is

not only useless to teach what

common

to a

already acquired, but it is con and fusing overwhelming. In Greek grammar there is a very great deal which is common to it with Latin,

new language with one

and only those things are to be taught in which Greek A very differs from Latin, the rest being assumed. few leaves

will suffice to

hold

all

that

new Greek

and everything will be thus more distinct the pupil, easier, and more firmly got hold of. syntax,

exercises in a new tongue be about subknown to the pupil. jects already Not with a view to things, but with a view to the 7.

Let the first

more rapid command of words.

The Catechism

The Great Didactic.

123

Bible History, for example, where the matter

known

and the same words frequently recur, would be good books for the purpose; or the Vestibulum andfanua. Let

all tongues

and

be learned by one

the

same

method,

Comenius next

ages

sets

forth

the

different

steps

a language, and divides the time into four

learning :

The prattling age of Infancy, with

book

its

corresponding

the Vestibulum.

The Boy age

the age of speaking correctly, with

its corresponding book thejanua. The Juvenile age when elegant

acquired,

with

its

speech corresponding book the

may be Atrium

[here called the Palatiurri\.

The

Virile age

The

Vestibulum should consist of

the age of nervous speech, with its book, being extracts from good authors corresponding the Thesaurus [afterwards called the Palatium\ little

which several hundreds of the more

sentences, in

common

words

should be conveyed, with an appendix of the declensions and conjugations. Thefanua should contain all the usual words in a language

given in short sentences

appendix of

short

and

Palatium should contain in every

;

about 8000 should be

naturally expressed, with clear treatises

grammar on

rules.

all sorts

The

of things,

kind of phraseology, with attention to elegance

of diction, accompanied with marginal notes on authors

whom passages have been taken, and rules for The varying words and phrases in a thousand ways. from

The Educational System.

124 Thesaurus

be composed of the

will

classical authors

observing and collecting nervous phraseology and varying idioms. A list of authors not read, but who may be afterwards useful, themselves,

with rules

for

should be added.

Comenius would not put a dictionary of a language hands of a beginner, but would have certain

into the

subsidiary books constructed for each stage in Latin

a Latin-vernacular and vernacular-Latin vocabulary

for

an etymological lexicon

for

those using the Vestibulum

;

those using the Janua

; a lexicon of phrases, synonyms, etc. (Latino-Latin, Grseco-Greek), for those using the

Palatium

and

;

finally,

Catholicon

Promptuarium

(vernacular and Latin) for those using the Thesaurus,

and

which everything may be found which

will

exhibit the resources of the language.

II.

yet

METHOD APPLIED TO MORALITY.

Method has been thought

to knowledge

of in relation only

to science, arts, including language

which we may apply the remark of Seneca, ista

debemus sed

didicisse.'

paratory to the true

as Christians,

Non

discere

are in truth only pre-

They

end, the pursuit of philosophy,

whereby we may become elevated,

We,

designate

this

strong, high-minded.

end of education,

morality and piety, or virtue and religion, instruction in which has to be introduced into all schools. Sixteen rules for the instilling of morality

may be

given

The Great Didactic. 1

All

125

the virtues, without exception, are to be implanted

in youth.

This

essential to a

harmony of the moral nature

harmonia morum, 2.

have

But, first of to be

titude,

all,

primary or cardinal

the

implanted, viz., Prudence,

Temperance, For-

and Justice.

Firm foundations must be all

the various parts

laid for a building, that

may cohere

well with the basis.

learning the true differences of things, values, pupils will be instructed in PRUDENCE. 3.

virtues

and their

Sound judgment is the foundation of all virtue. We must know the precise nature of each thing if we are to discern the

good from the bad, the desirable from the

undesirable. 4.

During the whole period of instruction let the young TEMPERANCE in eating and drinking, sleep and

be taught

waking, labour and play, speaking and keeping

The golden 5.

rule

silence.

quid nimis.

Let boys learn FORTITUDE by overcoming themselves; run about and play

to wit, by checking their desire to

beyond the proper time, or at the wrong time ; by restraining their impatience, their grumbling, their anger.

Man reason

a rational animal,

But inasmuch as

and he must be guided by

truly king over his

own

actions.

boys are not fully capable of be taught self-command by being

all

reasoning, they will

accustomed to do the

will

of another rather than their

own, by promptly obeying, in them.

all

things, those

above

The Educational System.

Under Fortitude we

include

an honourable frankness

of speech and tolerance of labour. Ingenuous frankness is acquired by frequent conversation with honourable men, and by doing in their

what has been ordered.

sight

Aristotle so educated

Alexander that in his twelfth year he conversed with all sorts

men

intelligently,

and ambassadors, rustics, and

kings

learned and unlearned, townspeople and

could contribute something apposite to the conversation, either in the

way

Con-

of question or answer.

versation with their elders, becomingly and modestly

conducted, should be encouraged in the young, and their faults of manner thus corrected.

The young

will

acquire tolerance of labour

are always doing something or other

rise to industrious

and

they

work or

mind and

Perpetual but moderate occupation of

play.

body give osos

either

active habits.

Gcner-

animos labor nutrit] says Seneca.

JUSTICE will be learned by doing harm to each

giving

his own, by avoiding lying

being generally serviceable

Under

no one, by

and

deceit,

and amiable.

Justice is included promptitude

and

alacrity in

serving others.

The acted,

inherent vice of selfishness

and regard

for

the

public

thereby counter-

good engendered.

The boy has to be taught the scope of our life, that we are born not for ourselves alone, but for God and our fellow-men. 7.

The formation of

the virtites shoidd begin

tender years, before vices take possession of the soul.

from

The Great Didactic. If

127

good seed be not sown, the

field will still produce, but the produce will, in that case, be weeds and tares. Begin from the earliest years to plough and sow, if you

would reap a harvest. 8. The virtues are learned by constantly doing honourable things.

Things to be known are learned by knowing, things done by doing; therefore, obedience is to be

to be

learned by obeying, abstinence by abstaining, truthfulness by speaking the truth, constancy by being constant,

and so

forth.

Let the examples of a well-constituted life always shine as a lamp before children the examples of parents, 9.

nurses, teachers, school-fellows.

Boys are as imitative as apes, and learn to imitate Historical examples long before they learn to know. are good, but living examples are better. 10.

added

Nevertheless, precepts to

and

rules of life are to be

examples.

The precepts of Scripture and men should be taught. 11.

Children are

intercourse with

enter

tenacity.

lest they be infected.

a poison to the mind, whether

by the eye or

depraved nature,

and

most diligently guarded against

bad companions,

Vicious example it

to be

the sayings of wise

ear.

In consequence of our wonderful facility

evil things cling with

Idleness leads to

evil,

importance of constant occupation, be

and hence the work or play.

12. Discipline is necessary for the purpose of withstanding immoral habits.

The Educational System.

[28

By discipline is meant reproof by words and chastisement by stripes. Punishment by stripes should be reserved

moral offences.

for

This subject

further

treated of below.

III.

Though

piety

Spirit, yet as

means

METHOD

AS APPLIED TO PIETY.

the gift of

the Spirit

parents, teachers,

through the Holy

acts through ordinary

and ministers of the Church,

right to consider the

it is

God

commonly

method of

the duties of

these instruments.

Comenius gives great prominence to this part of his Didactic, and treats of it at considerable length ; but it cannot be said that Method in any strict application of that term

successfully exhibited in

to religious instruction. is

in reality

The

relation

its

chapter on this subject

a series of propositions in which the order

of Christian doctrinal teaching some extent the manner of it.

laid

The

down, and to following para-

graphs contain the substance of his instructions After

Holy (i.e.

laying

down

three sources of piety,

the world or nature,

Scriptures,

viz.,

the

and ourselves

the natural instincts and intuitions which give a

knowledge of God, and our dependence on Him), he says that there are three ways of cherishing piety,

meditation on the words, works, and goodness of prayer,

which he

suspiratio ;

and

defines

be perpetua ad

self-examination.

viz.,

God

;

Deum

Examine yourselves

The Great whether ye be in the (2 Cor.

xiii.

faith

Didactic. :

129

prove your own selves

5).

In educating children in religion to the following rules

we should

attend

Begin in infancy

From

we must sow good

seed.

accustom the child to express with his eyes, hands, feet, and tongue ;

the very

devotion bodily

first

by gazing towards heaven, spreading out his palms, bending his knees, and invoking God and Christ, reverencing and adoring the invisible Majesty.

Let them be taught that we are here not for this life alone, but that eternity is our goal; that our chief

aim

to be so prepared as worthily to enter eternal

habitations; and that life

we do must have

all

the future

and that we must constantly bear

in view,

the twofold destiny that awaits

man

mind

hereafter.

Let them be taught that thrice happy are they who so regulate their lives as to be worthy of dwelling with

God

;

with

Him

God

that whosoever walk with everlastingly,

and

that

here, will dwell

by walking with God

meant having Him constantly before our Him, and keeping His commandments. Let them be taught to they hear or see, do or

refer all things

suffer,

eyes, fearing

whatsoever

God, mediately or

immediately.

Let

them

learn

occupy themselves from the

earliest years with those things that lead to

reading of the

Holy

God

the

Scriptures, the exercises of divine

worship, and good works.

The Educational System.

130

Let the Holy Scriptures be the Alpha and

Omega

Christian schools.

Let whatever

learned from Scripture be referred to

the three graces of Faith, Hope, and Charity; and

let

graces be taught with reference to practice. These will be taught in relation to practice if the young these

be taught to

believe all that

He commands,

and

God

to hope for

has revealed, to do what

what

promises.

Let boys be accustomed to the doing of those works commanded by Heaven, that by those works they may

show

forth their faith

the works, namely, of temperance,

compassion, patience, etc. Let them be taught to see clearly the purposes of the

justice,

benefits

God

confers,

and of the chastisements

inflicts.

Let them be exhorted to keep the way of the Cross most secure way, and let care be taken that no

as the

vicious examples obstruct Finally, let

them

them be taught

in their path.

that, since,

because of the

imperfection of their nature, they can do no good thing, they must rely on the perfection of Christ, the Lamb

God that taketh away the sins of the The mode of dexterously doing

different classes of the school has to

world. all

this

the

be carefully con-

sidered.

Comenius maintains

at considerable length,

and with

occasional eloquence, the necessity of either banishing Pagan authors from schools, or at least of using them

with

caution.

Realists

Comenius discouraged

purely classical studies, not merely because they usurped

The Great

Didactic.

131

the place which ought to be assigned to the study of subjects having a practical bearing

this

life,

but also

because they obstructed or at least did not promote, the true ends of a Christian school. All

now

accept the opinion that the classical authors

are to be read by boys with due caution that

none

will

be found to take the

;

but I imagine

restricted view that

they should be excluded altogether from schools even

religious grounds.

Strict logical reasonings

from a

fundamental principle are justly suspected when they land us in such conclusions, and the majority of teachers are content to sacrifice logic rather than part with their

common

sense.

IV.

ON SCHOOL

The Bohemians is

say that

a mill without water.'

DISCIPLINE.

a school without discipline

For take the water away and

the mill stops; take discipline It

lags.

does not follow from

away and the school this

that a

school

be a place of cries, blows, and weals ; but there must be vigilance and attention, both in the teacher and to

taught.

What

discipline save a certain

(discipuli) are

made

way whereby scholars be truly scholars ?

Let us consider, then, discipline in its end, its cur, guando, quomodo. its form

its

matter,

and

The end of discipline.

This

not the punishment

of a transgressor for a fault he has committed (the I

done

The Educational System.

cannot be undone), but the prevention of the recurrence of the fault. Accordingly, the master must execute

punishment without passion, anger, or hatred, but in such a way that the boy under discipline will recognise it

done

that

for his good,

and on

that account will

he would accept a disagreeable draught

from a physician.

The matter of discipline. A severe discipline not to be exercised in the matter of studies, but only 2.

that of morals.

and

If subjects of study are rightly arranged

taught, they themselves attract

and

allure all save

very exceptional natures ; and if they are not rightly Moretaught, the fault is in the teacher, not the pupil. over,

we do not know how

shall certainly not

mere

force.

There

to allure to study by skill, succeed by the application of no power in stripes and blows

to excite a love of literature, but a great power,

the contrary, of generating weariness and disgust. musician does not dash his instrument against a wall,

or give

blows and

cuffs,

because he cannot draw music

but continues to apply his skill till he extracts a melody. So by our skill we have to bring the minds

from

it,

of the young into harmony, and to the love of studies, if we are not to make the careless unwilling and the

A spur and stimulus are often needed, torpid stolid. but a sharp word or a public reproof or the praise of who are doing well, Those who transgress

others

more as

seriously dealt with.

blasphemy and

will generally suffice.

moral matters are to be Impiety, for example, such

obscenity,

and

all

that

done

The Great against the law of

Didactic.

God, constitute serious

133 offences,

and

Con-

can be expiated only by a severe chastisement.

tumacy and deliberate perversity, wilful non-doing of what the pupil knows ought to be done are to be Also, pride, envy, and sloth. punished. 3.

The how of

Comenius

discipline.

The

sun (regarded by

as the cause of atmospheric changes) always

and warmth, often rain and wind, rarely So (i.) The teacher should thunder and lightning.

gives forth light

always shine as an example, in his conduct, of

all

own person and (2.) By words

he requires from others.

of instruction, exhortation,

and occasionally

reproof, he

should labour to sustain discipline, being most careful

he says

that all

and

verily

comes from a parental

affection for his pupils, for if the pupils

they harden their hearts against

see

this

(3.)

If any pupil

interest

do not

discipline.

of so unhappy a disposition that

these gentler methods

fail,

violent remedies should

anything should be left undone before utterly despairing of a boy ; but great care has to be exercised that we do not resort to extreme remedies

be applied,

lest

except in extreme cases.

Extrema

in extremis.

The

whole object of discipline, we must never forget, is to form in those committed to our charge a disposition 1 worthy of the children of God.

Speaking of the improvement of schools, Professor Eilhardus Lubinus says: ' Prorsus sentio virgas et verbera servilia ilia instrumenta ac ingeniis minime convenientia minime in scholis adhibenda sed procul removenda esse et admovenda mancipiis et servilis animi nequam servis.' 1

The Educational System.

134

is the end of Method as applied to Knowledge, and Religion, and it seems to be a fit place to introduce some precepts of Comenius which are given

This

Virtue,

in the Dissertatio de sermonis Latini studio.

PRACTICAL HINTS TO THE TEACHER OF A CLASS. Let the teacher not teach as much as he

teach, but only as

Whatever

bring, let these left

much

difficulty

as the learner

and trouble

able to

able to learn.

scholastic labours

be borne by the teacher, nothing being

to the pupil except the desire to imitate,

and the

acquisition of facility in imitating.

Whatever teachers wish

them

their pupils to

know,

let

set forth that thing with the greatest possible per-

spicuity. 4.

Whatever teachers wish

their pupils

do, let

them point out the way by themselves doing it. 5. Let nothing ever seem so easy as to relieve the teacher of the duty of striving, in various ways, to it

make

more perspicuous and more easy of imitation. 6. Never let the pupils be overburdened with a mass

of things to be learned. 7.

viz.,

Three things always are to be formed mind, hand, and tongue.

And

these three

come one

in the pupil,

after the other.

It is

the easiest of the three to understand anything; the

next that it

to imitate

which

in writing

;

nearest perfection,

with the tongue.

This

the most

difficult,

and

be able to express applicable to arts and is

The Great Didactic.

Let the teachers there-

sciences as well as language.

heed

135

whatever they desire their pupils to learn easily and successfully, shall advance by these fore give

that,

gradations without confusion.

Always

examples precede, as being the matter

let

of instruction;

precepts and rules follow, as

let

the

form.

Never dismiss any subject which has been begun,

10.

until

take

Let the teacher never

thoroughly finished.

more matter

for

a lesson than can be both set forth

and expounded within the same hour, and impressed on the intellect and memory of the pupils, during that

same hour, by TI.

Let the

fit

first

examples. foundations of all things be thoroughly

laid, unless you wish the whole superstructure to totter.

12. Accordingly,

whatever the teacher begins to teach,

him give pains

let

to see that

firmly learnt that those things

accurate,

and so

which follow can be

on the top of it. been wrongly apprehended, take care that it do not drive roots into the mind, but that safely built

13. If anything has

be immediately torn up. 14. Whatever is taught,

that

15.

may

let

be taught accurately,

not cause misconception.

Let similar diligence be applied in giving exer-

cises in style (composition). 1 6.

insure this, let the example, which

for imitation,

be unexceptionable, and

let

given

the imitation

it be attempted only in the master's presence, and under his inspection.

The Educational System.

136 17.

far the greatest

abridgment of labour not to teach one boy alone, but

the teacher

for

many

together. 1 8.

In order that

necessary

this

may be

done, two things are

That those pupils only be admitted

(a.)

into the

class who are of equal advancement, and that they be admitted at the same time. (b.) That skill be used, with a view to secure that

same

none of the pupils taught to 19.

shall

be ignorant of that which

secure

attended to

this,

the

following

things

must be

Let the teacher take care that he always brings

(a.)

to his class something in the to please

(.)

all.

and

way of

instruction likely

to profit.

At the beginning of every task the minds

of the

pupils should be prepared for the instruction, either

commending

to their attention the subject to be taught

;

by putting questions on what has been already taught, which lead up to the new by showing its coherence with or

the old ject,

;

by bringing out

so that they

may

their ignorance of the sub-

receive the explanation of

with

greater avidity. (c.)

Let the master stand in a somewhat elevated

position,

where he can see

all

any one from doing anything (</.)

Let him always

assist the attention

presenting everything, in

senses (hearing, seeing,

round him and so prevent else but looking at him.

etc.).

of the pupils

so far as possible, to the

The Great Didactic.

137

Let the teacher sharpen the attention of the pupils by occasionally asking one here and there, What was ((?.)

I just said ?'

(/) let

Repeat it,' etc. one who has been asked a question any

fails,

the teacher go to the second, third, tenth, thirtieth,

without repeating the question. (g.)

one or another cannot do

it,

let

him ask the

question of the whole class, and praise publicly the one

who

answers

(7z.)

When

first

and best

the lesson

;

and finished, let

an opportunity

be given to pupils of asking the teacher questions whether with reference to the lesson then given or to any previous lesson.

These precepts

the art of teaching are not given

for the sake of the school alone,

mote habits

in the

but because they pro-

pupil which are of value in after

life.

Fourth

Section.

Fourth

Section.

ON THE GENERAL ORGANISATION OF A SCHOOL SYSTEM.

A CERTAIN fixed time ought to be set apart for the complete education of youth, at the end of which they may go forth from school to the business of life, truly instructed, truly moral, truly religious.

The

time that

of youth, that

required for this

to say, from birth to

fully attained in twenty-four years.

the whole period

manhood, which

four years into periods of six years each,

have a school suited to each period, 1.

Infancy

Boyhood

the mother's lap

Dividing the twenty-

viz.,

we ought

the school of

to six years of age.

ludus literarius, or vernacular public

school. 3.

Adolescence

Youth

The

the Latin School or

Gymnasium.

the University (Academic?) and travel. ,

Infant School should be found in every house,

the Vernacular School in every village and community, the

Gymnasium

in every province,

and the University

every kingdom or large province.

In these various schools the same things

will

The Great Didactic.

139

taught, each subject being adapted to the stage of pro-

gress

be taught more

in the earlier stages subjects will

;

broadly and generally, in the later more in detail. In the Mother School the external senses chiefly will

be exercised of these.

in relation to objects

and the distinguishing

In the Vernacular School the inner senses,

imagination,

and memory

will

be exercised along with

their executory organs, the tongue and hand, by means of reading, writing, drawing, singing, counting, measuring, weighing,

and learning by heart. In the Gymnaand judgment will be formed by

sium the

intellect

means of

dialectic,

and

grammar,

rhetoric,

why' of the real sciences and

and the

arts.

what'

In the Uni-

be taught which depend on the Will of man and reduce the mind to harmony, knowe.g. Theology, Mental Philosophy, Medicine (i.e. versity those things will

ledge of the vital functions of the Body), Jurisprudence. That this is the true method of procedure is manifest

;

on the

for first external things are impressed

then the

mind seeks

to express what

senses,

has received

by reproducing the images of things in memory, and by the tongue and hand. Intelligence thereafter applies what has been so acquired, and compares and weighs that it may learn the reasons and causes of itself to

promoting the understanding of things and judgments regarding them. Finally, the Will seeks things, thereby

to establish

its

sovereignty over

all

things.

fere with this order is to trifle with the

and yet 1

i.e.

this

inter-

whole subject,

what those do who introduce boys to

the representative and reproductive imagination.

The Educational System.

before they have an

Ethics, Poetry, Rhetoric,

Logic,

adequate knowledge of the realities of sense. Again, the Mother School and the Vernacular School will train all

sium

the population of both sexes

those boys

will train

higher than artisans future teachers

;

who aim

for the

;

the

Gymna-

being something

and the University

and guides of

never be wanting

will

form the

others, so that there

may

Church, School, or State,

fit

These grades of schools find their analogy the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of the year.

governors. in

But this

these things have to be fully developed

all

Comenius now proceeds

;

and

to do.

THE IDEA OF THE MOTHER SCHOOL.

In the Infant School (which is the family) the elements have to be taught of everything necessary to the building-up of the life of man, and we shall show that this

possible by running over the different de-

partments of knowledge. Metaphysics.

Conception

infants

general they do not distinguish things according to kind, but general terms are familiar to them and (a.)

and confused arise

out

Nothing, Unlike,

;

of ordinary

etc.,

observation,

viz.,

Something,

Where, When, Like, which things are the foundations of Meta-

Is, Is-not,

So, Otherwise,

physics. (b.)

Physics.

In this infant stage the child will learn he learns to know ;

the rudiments of natural knowledge water,

earth,

fire,

rain,

snow,

ice,

stone,

iron,

tree,

The Great

Didactic.

141

and the

own

grass, bird, fish, ox, etc. etc.,

parts of his

body.

The beginnings of Optics he learns when he learns to name light, darkness, and the principal colours. (d.} Astronomy he begins when he learns to name (c.)

sun,

moon,

and the

star, constellation,

rising

and

setting

of these. (e.)

The beginnings of Geography

when

are learned

the child understands what a mountain

is,

a plain, a

valley, a river, a village, a city, a state.

Chronology is learned in its rudiments in learning what an hour is, a day, a week, a month, a year, yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow, etc. (f.)

(g.)

History he learns in learning what has recently

happened, and the way in which it happened, and how this or that man conducted himself. Arithmetic he learns by finding out the much and the little, by counting up to 10, and by the simplest (h.}

forms of addition and subtraction. (/.)

The rudiments of Geometry

covering what

great

and

and narrow, thick and

are learned in dis-

small, long

thin,

line,

and

short,

circle,

broad

etc.,

and

the ordinary measures. (j.)

Statics

are learned in observing the light

and

heavy, and by balancing things. (.) Mechanics are learned by causing the children

carry things from one place to another, to arrange things, All such to build and take to pieces, to tie and untie. things, the

young delight

to do,

be encouraged and directed

and they have merely doing them.

The Educational System.

142 (/.)

The beginnings even

Dialectic

are

taught

by question and answer, and by requiring direct and adequate answers to interrogations.

Grammar

(m.)

acquired

the

child

its

elements through the right articulating of his motherletters, syllables, words.

tongue,

(.) Rhetoric is acquired, in its beginnings, by hearing the use of metaphors in ordinary conversation, and of the rising and falling inflection in speech. (0.) The foundation of a taste for poetry learning little verses, chiefly of a moral kind. (/>.)

The

laid

daily exercises of household piety, including

the singing of easy psalms and hymns,

will

give the

elements of music. (q.)

The rudiments

of Economics are furnished by

noting the relations of father, mother, domestic servant, and the parts of a house and its furnishings. (r.)

Polity less can be learned, but even in this

sphere some knowledge of the civil government and the names of governors and magistrates may be acquired. (s.)

But above

be firmly

laid

all,

the foundations of Morality have training to temperance in all things,

cleanliness of habits, due reverence to superiors,

prompt

obedience, truthfulness, justice, charity, continual occupation, patience, serviceableness to others, civility. (/.)

laid.

In Religion and Piety the beginnings are to be The elements of the Christian religion should

be committed to memory, and the child should be trained to recognise the perpetual presence of God, his

dependence on Him, and to see

Him

a punisher of

The Great

Didactic.

143

and a rewarder of good. Simple prayers should be taught, and the child led to bend the knee and fold the evil

hands

in prayer.

Such

the task of the Mother-School, of which

Comenius promises treatise, entitled

to treat in

this separate treatise,

what has been already in

detail in a separate

laid

little

however,

down.

detail certainly, but without

The

new.

Informatorium Scholae Maternae.

character.

urges his points

adding anything

value of the treatise consists in

The more important

added

its

hortatory

additions are under

the heads of discipline, of childish occupations, and of

bodily health.

As noise,

he denounces as intolerable the

discipline,

irregularity,

urges as a

and licence of some

families,

and

remedy the example of elders, and verbal

reproof; but above

all,

powerfully with children. rod advocated.

encouraging words, which tell In the last resort only is the

In the matter of occupations, he urges the encourageall kinds of sports, and -especially the love of

ment of

constructing buildings, see,

which

The

in imitation of

etc.,

what they

a natural instinct of children.

bodily health

of the

object, as bodily vigour

child

must be a prime

the condition of

all proper It is not enough simply to pray that mental growth. our children may be healthy and vigorous. God's blessing is

Even during pregnancy, given to labour on our part. the mother should keep in mind her duty to her offis

spring.

She should devote her mind

to religious exer-

The Educational System

cises

more than

usual, avoid all excesses in eating

and

drinking, and all mental anxieties ; and yet she should not be idle or luxurious, but occupy herself with alacrity and cheerfulness in her usual duties. Comenius de-

nounces in fervent language the employment of milkand Divine Providence

nurses, holding that both Nature

have marked out the duty of suckling as at once a maternal duty and privilege. After the child is weaned, simple diet only should be given, such as bread, milk, butter,

and some kinds of vegetables.

Books containing pictures of things should be put into the hands of little children. This will stimulate their observation,

the

names of the

and help them to read, especially if things drawn or painted are written

under the representations. All the work of the Mother School

to be

done

the family circle. II.

THE IDEA

OF THE VERNACULAR SCHOOL.

the Vernacular School Comenius

By now call

means what we

the Primary School, and he presumes

attended by children from the age of six to twelve (their thirteenth year).

The scope and aim

of the Vernacular School are

stated in the form of an answer to those

such schools are only for destiny in

life

girls,

industrial,

who hold

that

and those boys whose

and who maintain

those whose duration of education

to be

that for

more pro-

longed and whose aim is higher, the Latin School or Gymnasium is the proper place from the first.

The Great It is evident,

Didactic. view

says, that this

145 is

opposed to If it be

the principles that have been laid down.

all

that our duty

things that

go through the

to instruct all

human

have to do with human

same course as long

desire to instruct

all

beings in all those they must all

affairs,

as they hold together.

alike in moralities,

and

also to

promote mutual serviceableness, and we should remove everything which can foster the disposition to appraise oneself too highly, and to look

we cannot

down on

their ultimate destination

may

the vernacular

modern tongues, and the study of Even the Latin tongue

more important. better learned

who has in new names

Again,

Further, he objects

be.

to the superstitious attachment to Latin

tongue,

others.

venture to say of boys six years old what

by one who knows

learning a to things

things being itself will

his vernacular,

new language simply already known.

Vernacular School ought to teach use for the whole of life, and this to

all

and

to adapt brief,

the

that will be of

all.

Subjects of Instruction in the Vernacular or

Primary

School.

Let the pupil learn to read tongue, whether printed or script. 1.

Let him learn to write

first

all

things in his

own

neatly, then quickly,

then with grammatical propriety, in accordance with rules popularly 3.

expounded. Let him learn arithmetic as

Let him learn to measure lengths, breadths,

tances.

far as necessary. dis-

The Educational System.

46 5.

those

Let him learn to sing the more common melodies, who have an aptitude for it being also taught the

elements of harmony 1 (or notation?). 6. Let him learn by heart the psalms and

hymns more commonly used in churches. 7. Let him learn to repeat with accuracy the Catechism, and important passages from Holy Writ 8.

Let him understand morality in

by means of examples begin the practice of 9.

precepts,

and

let

and

him

it.

much

Let him understand as

polity as

its

suited to his age,

economy and

necessary for the understanding of what goes

on around him. Let him not be ignorant of the general history

10.

of the world

its

creation,

government by the

fall

and redemption, and

its

wisdom of God.

Let him be taught general geography, and the

11.

geography of

12.

his

own country more

general knowledge

fully.

of the

mechanical

arts

should be given, that boys may better understand the affairs of ordinary life, and that opportunities be thus given to boys to find out their special aptitudes.

The be

laid,

beginnings of

all

kinds of knowledge

will

thus

whatever be the future destiny of the pupils.

Means of attaining

the above

Ends.

The

school period being extended over six years, the school should be divided into six classes, kept i.

apart from each other as 1

much

as possible.

Figuralis musica.

The Great Each

Didactic.

should have

class

its

147

own

should contain everything necessary for in

Morals,

Literature,

and

books, its

These

Religion.

which

instruction

books

should exhaust the vernacular tongue, in so far as the naming of things within the range of a boy's apprehension and all the more usual modes of speech, are con-

There ought to be

cerned.

treat

such books, differing in

six

mode of

their

treating subjects, not in the subjects they advancing always from the more simple to the

special

and

They should be

detailed.

carefully

adapted to the age of the pupils, and should combine

As a school has been

the pleasant with the useful.

compared

to a

might well be e.g.

the

first

garden, so the

made

attractive

titles

of these books

by reference to a garden

might be called Violarium, the second

Rosarium, the third Viridarium, the fourth Labyrinthus, fifth Balsamentum,x&& the sixth Paradisus Animae.

the

The

school-hours should not be more than four

two before noon and two

after noon, thus time for and for domestic duties amusement, leaving

daily

when the children are poor. hours should be given 4. The morning

lessons that exercise the understanding and

memory,

the afternoon

those which

those

engage the voice and

hand. 5.

In the morning hours, the teacher

will read

re-read the lesson, giving simple explanations, while listen attentively,

one ing.

and

will

then

call

and all

certain pupils,

after the other, to read, the rest attentively followIf the lesson is

prolonged, the clever boys will be

The Educational System.

148 able to say also

;

for the

off

heart,

and

later

tasks will be short,

on the slower boys and suited to the

capacity of the pupils. 6.

The

In the afternoon, nothing new should be attempted. repetition of the morning lesson, transcription from

the printed book, and competition as to bers

most accurately, or can

The

best.

sing,

who remem-

write,

count

neat transcription of the printed books

most valuable

exercise, for the lesson

thereby more

thoroughly impressed on the mind through the occupation of the senses with it, and practice in correct spelling

and neat writing is given. The parents also learn from these books what their children are doing at school. In conclusion, Comenius recommends that if any boys desire to learn foreign tongues they should begin

them

and during the latter part of Vernacular School. For teach-

after their tenth year,

their attendance at the

ing purposes, translations into the foreign language they are learning of those books which are already

them

in the vernacular

III.

known

tongue should be used.

THE IDEA OF THE LATIN

SCHOOL,

OR GYMNASIUM. In

this

school

there

should be an

encyclopaedic

course, including four languages.

The

course being a six years' one (from twelve years

of age to eighteen), there should also be six classes. The subjects to be taught are as follows :

Grammar,

that

to say, a thorough

knowledge of

The Great Didactic.

149

the vernacular and Latin, and such a knowledge of

Greek and Hebrew i.e.

Dialectic,

arguing,

and

Rhetoric,

may be

practice

in resolving

i.e.

necessary.

defining,

distinguishing,

arguments.

the power of elegant composition

any given matter. Arithmetic.

Geometry.

Music, practical and theoretical.

Astronomy.

These are the boasted seven a

man

a master in philosophy.

them taught

in the

following subjects

liberal arts

Comenius would have

Gymnasium, and,

in addition, the

and Mineralogy,

Physics, including Natural History

and applications

which make

to the arts.

Geography. Chronology. History. Ethics,

and of

i.e.

a knowledge of the virtues and vices,

their special application to

Theology,

life.

that youths should

And,

thorough knowledge of the doctrines of their of the scriptural basis of them. It is

lastly,

have, not only a faith,

not presumed that a thorough knowledge of

these subjects can be attained in the

Gymnasium ;

but

all

but

only that a solid foundation may be laid in them all. To the six classes a separate name is assigned, indicating the order in which studies are to be taken up, viz.,

the

Grammar

class, the

Physics class, the Mathc-

The Educational System.

150

matical class, the Ethical class, the Dialectic class, and the Rhetoric class.

The Grammar class comes first, as the key to all else. Then the Physics precedes the Mathematics, because the are

numbers and quantities dealt with in the former more within the sphere of sense than they are in

the

Mathematics

latter.

general

Ethics will deal, not merely with the

and

what of

abstract.

morality,

as in the Vernacular School, but advance to the why.

Dialectic will take

up Physical and Ethical questions

with a view to the pro and con. short course of logic,

and sources of

error.

elegant expression,

will also include

and the

principles of investigation, Rhetoric, or the art of fit and

comes

last,

when

the youth has the

necessary material for writing, and its range will be confined to very brief and very clear rhetorical precepts.

has to be remarked that in every class, History, as life, should find a place, so that all that is

the eye of

most memorable

both in deed and word,

in the past,

This, so far from increasing the may be known. burden on pupils, will lighten their labours. Little text-books should be written, viz., one on Biblical His-

one on natural things one on inventions and mechanical arts; one exhibiting the most illustrious tory

;

examples of virtue; one on the various customs of finally, one containing all that is most

nations; and

significant in the history of the world,

of our

own

It is to

and especially

country.

be taken

for granted that

Comenius, while

defining the distinctive work of each class, presumes

The Great Didactic. that the

work done

in the

Without

continued.

still

151

classes that precede

this,

how would a

it,

sufficient

knowledge of language, for example, be obtained? The Dialectic and Rhetoric classes would afford special opportunities for the revision of

all

the work done in

the classes that preceded them.

Comenius postpones the question of the special to be followed in the Gymnasium, merely

method

remarking that, of the four school hours, the two before noon should be devoted to that subject by which the

named, and the two afternoon hours to history and to exercises in writing and repeating. class is

IV.

THE IDEA OF THE UNIVERSITY

(Academid).

Every department of knowledge should be handled There will be need, accordingly,

in the Universities.

of Professors

learned in

tongues, and also of a

to the

method

all

arts,

library for

sciences,

common

faculties,

use.

to be

pursued : the flower of youth 1. Only the more select minds should be sent to Universities, all others being relegated to agriculture, the workshop, or trade. 2.

for

Each should apply himself

which he

done

invita

to that line of study

specially fitted, so that nothing

Minerva.

may be

would be well that the

desti-

nation of youth should be fixed by a leaving-examination in the Gymnasiums. 3.

Minds of

large

mould should be stimulated to may be a certain number

universal knowledge, that there

The Educational System.

152 of

men 4.

who

of universal accomplishment

rroAv/ia#eis

The

University should retain only those students

are

industrious,

pseudo-students,

honourable,

who go

there

and

Those

able.

spend money and

waste time, should not be tolerated.

Authors of every kind should be studied

impossible for

all

;

but as

to read everything that authors

have written, men, learned each in his own department, should produce books which would contain, in a systematic form, the

Galen,

sum of

Plato, Aristotle, Cicero,

These systematised summaries would serve

etc.

as an introduction for the use of those to study these great writers,

who had

necessary for those

who were going

and furnish to

all

that

was

devote themselves

specially to other studies. 6.

Of academic

public

disputations

exercises, :

the

a very important one

students

discussing,

afternoon meeting, what the Professor has given in a

forenoon meeting, and contributing to the subject from

own reading, and suggesting questions, while the Professor acts as president.

their

regards Graduation

University honours should be conferred only on the

worthy, and

it should depend on a public inquiry by commissioners, and not on private testimony, so that Doctorships and Masterships may be conferred only on

those conspicuous for their diligent pursuit of learning. qualification of the candidates should be ascertained

The

by public

oral questioning

the theory

and

praxis

The Great Didactic.

153

of the subjects they have studied e.g. that, or the other passage to be found ?

Do you know Who ? What

agree with this or that ?

Where

How

this,

does

any author

who

dissents from this view ? arguments does he advance, and how are they to be met? Again in praxis: cases are to be put in conscience, or in

medicine, or in legal causes ; the how and the why is to be put, and a variety of cases brought forward, so that

may be

seen that the candidate has a thorough

and can judge wisely. Travel with a view to education should be allowed

knowledge of

his subject,

only, as Plato says,

when

the hotness of youth

and the young man has acquired and tact.

So much

sufficient

a teaching body

for the University as

over,

prudence

;

but

ought to be a Schola Scholarum or Collegium Didacticum founded somewhere or other ; and if the foundation of such a college is

in addition to all

impossible,

this

learned

there

men

all

parts

of the world

devoted to the advancement of God's glory, should

combine

prosecute researches in science, and to

make new discoveries bearing on the improvement of the human race. Neither one man nor one generation is

sufficient for this great task

;

many men

jointly

and

must carry on the work begun. Such a universal school would be to the rest of schools in successive generations

what the stomach supplying sap,

life,

to the

body

strength.

the living workshop,

The Educational System.

CONCLUSION.

Comenius in conclusion elaborates an analogy between his method and the Art of Printing. As the Art of Printing is to the old method of producing copies of books, so

his

method of education

to the

Into this parallel we need not follow him. greater number of pupils, he maintains, will be taught with fewer teachers ; a larger proportion

methods then

in use.

of pupils will be truly instructed receive

;

and many who now

benefit from schools will receive substantial again, those

who

nature adapted to the work of instruction

will,

culture.

As regards teachers,

ing sound method, acquire aptitude.

are not

by followAs an organist

can play from a book, symphonies which he himself could not possibly have composed, so a school-teacher may learn to teach all subjects, if he have reduced into a schematic form, as to be taught,

were,

all

the subjects that have

and the whole method of teaching them.

have now given the sum of the Great Didactic.

PART

II.

PART METHOD

II.

THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGE MORE FULLY CONSIDERED. 1

THE

Magna does

Didactica

Comenius has

not

contain

all

that

In the prefaces to his various

to say.

works there are many sagacious observations both on Methods and on Education in general. These observations

the

apply chiefly to

teaching

School-instruction in the fifteenth turies

of language.

and sixteenth cen-

was substantially language-instruction

;

and the

language chiefly, though not exclusively, taught was Latin. It was unavoidable therefore that Comenius, in applying his principles

have

and

rules of

his attention largely concentrated

of Latin.

which had subject

Method, should on the teaching

Prior to Ratich, indeed, the general interest

been excited throughout Europe had for its object, so

of Education

the

in far

schools were concerned, chiefly the current methods of

teaching the Latin tongue.

and loudly expressed school-teaching.

There was a widespread

dissatisfaction with the results of

Boys and masters were

these as teachers, those as learners; 1

From

ticis solide

the Methodus

alike

unhappy

great severity

Linguarum novissima fundantentis

superstrucla, 1648.

didac-

The Educational System.

156

was practised, and after all was done, had been spent in the study

of discipline

and

the years of youth

all

mainly of one subject, the results were contemptible. In 1614 Eilhardus Lubinus, an eminent theologian who edited the Greek Testament in three languages, speaks in these

words

' :

The customary method

instruc-

seems to me, precisely what we might have expected had some one been tion prevalent in schools

specially hired

and paid

is,

to excogitate

some way whereby

teachers might not introduce their pupils to a know-

ledge of Latin, and pupils might not be introduced,

except with immense loss,

toil,

unspeakable tedium,

infinite

and the expenditure of a long period of time. '

Quae

quoties repeto vel iniqua mente revolvo toties, penitusque horresco medullis.'

Concutior

And I

again he remarks,

When

considering this matter often led to think

have, to speak the truth, been

some wicked and malign spirit an enemy of had through the agency of some race ill-omened monks originally introduced the method of that

the

human

And

'The production of Germanisms, Barbarisms, Solecisms, mere abortions of Latin, dishonourings and defilements of the tongue.'

instruction.'

The most

with what result ?

important, and indeed the only important,

by Comenius on Method, in addition to the Didadica Magna and the short treatise on the Mother treatise

School (the substance of which

have incorporated

into the preceding analysis of the Didactica) '

entitled

Novissima Lingitarum Mettwdus, firmly erected on

Method of Languages.

157

Didactic foundations, demonstrated in special relation

Tongue, adapted with precision to the use

to the Latin

of Schools, but also capable of application with advantage to other kinds of Studies.' It consists

lished in 1648.

This

was pub-

treatise

of thirty chapters

the

first

of which are occupied with the consideration of

five

language itself, beginning, as is customary with the author, ab ovo, and approaching the question he has to

most systematic manner. There is nothing these chapters worth reproducing for our time.

solve in the in

Indeed,

almost be said

may

much

that,

Comenius's writing, they are characterised by a wearisome, elaborate, and painfully systematic statement of

commonplace.

There

no penetrating

cast

light

any dark places.

into

The subsequent chapters are more instructive. The principles laid down in the Didactica now reappear in more

special

and

detailed application to Latin.

They

however, reached analytically, and no longer syn-

are,

cretically.

Comenius maintains,

Latin,

be preferred to

vehicle not only of it is

the

common

Roman,

but of

all,

learning ;

;

the

because

it is

excellent introduction to the study of all tongues

syntax,

the one language to

language of the learned

and because, owing is

others for schools, because

all

to the definiteness of

its

presents fewer difficulties than Greek.

special difficulty in learning Latin

a good method.

;

forms and

There

what we want

Lubinus remarks that cooks and

The Educational System.

158

scullions learn in a short time

of two or three

modern tongues by mixing with the people who speak them than boys at school, after the greatest effort, learn of the one language Latin.

consider

proceeding

method

the

hitherto

followed, Comenius

indirectly answers Lubinus, for that a out he points language learned only conversaWhen we have studied tionally is imperfectly learned.

a language methodically in

then

know

we know us only more or

yields

language,

that

and

can at

forms and syntax, we

its

any othex mode of study less of the fragments of a

;

best

only a superficial

give

knowledge.

The evils which need a remedy are these 1. The Latin language is taught abstractly, :

without

a prior knowledge of the things which the words denote. It will be said that the boys already know in the vernacular the things which the Latin words denote.

But

how

a false conclusion that because boys know

to utter vernacular words they therefore under-

.How can

stand them. at

vocabularies

it advantage a boy to get which he finds such things as

Necessitas, necessity

know what either Words should be

;

Pignus, a pledge '

necessity

learned in

;

he do not

a pledge

their

means

connection with

things known. 2.

The second

intricacies of It is

evil is driving

grammar from

boys into the manifold

the very

the custom of schools to treat

first.

grammar from

formal instead of from the material side.

This

the

Method of Languages.

count money in purse without the money. It would be less absurd if a knowledge of the grammar of the vernacular had preceded the study of Latin, in which case a knowledge of the meaning of grammatical terms

and

rules in relation to the matter of language

mind

already exist in the boy's

but

would

has not yet, says ; even been to teach Comenius, proposed grammar in it

and boys are plunged into the formal statements of grammar on their first beginning Latin, so that they must imagine that grammar belongs vernacular schools,

to Latin alone.

To make

Grammar is written like, if we began to

matters worse, the

How

in Latin.

Latin

should we adults

learn Arabic, to have a

Grammar

And

yet what

written in Arabic put into our hands ?

we with our matured powers would resent, we demand Not to speak of the of the tender minds of boys. multitude and obscurity of the rules themselves, we ask boys to struggle with

its

sense,

and

first

with the words of a rule, then

with the genius of a tongue

finally

alien to their vernacular. 3.

The

take

third evil

impossible

the practice of compelling boys

leaps,

instead

of carrying

them

forward step by step. We introduce them from the grammar into Virgil and Cicero, short,

Virgil's

Eclogues

and Cicero's

also equivalent to short. is

simply because they are select being here

select epistles

The

sublimity of poetic style

beyond the conception of boys, and the

matter of Cicero's epistles said that this

for

grown men.

subjectIt will

done that boys may acquire the words,

The Educational System.

phrases, etc., of these authors, in the expectation that

when they

Why

But why

are older they will see their force.

ever separate words and things

Unhappy

begin to build a tower at the top ?

divorce

It will also

model before boys to which they may attain. Quite right to aim at a perfect model when the aim is practicable, and if we proceed said that the object

to put a perfect

But a boy must go step by

gradually to the highest. step,

and advancing years

will

bring both the occasions

and the power of learning. If Cicero himself were to enter our schools, and find boys engaged with his works,

seems to

that he

would be either amused

Larger things are with great advantage

or indignant.

postponed to lesser things, and the lesser things,

accommodated fruits

to the age of the learners, yield greater

than larger things.

The eminent grammarian

Vossius speaks (Lib. vii. Gram, i.) strongly against the folly of loading boys with a mass of rules and exceptions, affirming that it is not merely useless, but hurtful obstructive. The language of Scioppius, the annotator of the Sanctii Minerva, is stronger and more

and

fervid in denunciation than that of

And when we

Grammars then

in use,

having 500 rules and as

be surprised then

current

any other

writer.

bear in mind the construction of the Latin

the

that of Alvarus, for example,

many

exceptions

we cannot

unanimous condemnation of the

methods of teaching, and the almost

universal lamentation over the wasted years of youth.

Comenius

gives

some account of the various

posals for reform current in his time.

pro-

was natural

Method of Languages. that

should

many

method the

tyrants

attaining a

intercourse of daily

and

life.

torturers of boys,

their tyranny

knowledge

tion of Colleges,

of the question,

where

all,

of Latin

Schoolmasters were

and the instrument of

was the Latin Grammar.

on the same side

be driven to the conversational

means of

as a

Csecilius Frey,

proposed the

institu-

including the servants, should

speak Latin and Greek. To these, boys might be sent in their second year, and while not neglecting their mother tongue, acquire a free use of Latin versation, during their play

and

and Greek

in con-

at their meals.

supported his scheme by the success which had attended this method in the case of Montaigne, who when six years old could speak Latin better than his native

French.

the other hand, Melanchthon, the restorer

of letters in Germany, and an ardent school reformer (Praeceptor

Germaniae, as

advocates

grammatical

he was instruction,

called),

and

strongly

inveighs

vehemently against those who would propose to teach by practice alone without syntactical precepts. He this

calls

which

it is

method a confused kind of procedure, by not possible to obtain sound learning. He who counsel such a method are

considers that those

the worst friends of youth, and that they

recommend

not only pernicious in its effects while the pupils A still are boys, but hurtful to them throughout life.

what

contempt similar

for

grammatical precepts

contempt

for

will

engender a

the groundwork of other

arts,

and sap the foundations of that reverence which is He conthe support of private and public morals. L

The Educational System.

62 '

penalties ought to be inflicted by the State on those teachers who despise grammatical rules.' The eminent Lipsius deplores the years, from ten to siders that

thirteen,

which

he spent over grammatical

trifles,

and

thinks that the time would be better spent in reading,

and

knowledge of

obtaining a

also advocated the

things.

Caselius

reading of authors, and constant Ratich, Comenius's distin-

exercises in writing Latin.

work of Educational Reform, was of Caselius's opinion, but his method was to put

guished predecessor in the

author level with a boy's capacity into a pupil's such an author as Terence to get him at once

hands

to read and re-read the Latin, in the expectation that with some explanation by the master he would begin

At the third reading only should exercises in declining and conjugating be given, and this not in accordance with rules, but merely referring from time to time to types of declensions

gradually to understand.

At the fourth reading the syntax and conjugations. and phraseology generally should be taken up and taught by the master, but

all

from the author himself.

The master

according to this method does almost everythe pupils being to a great extent passive. Ratich thing,

had many followers, and some keen opponents. Lubinus desired some compendious way, and advocated the construction of a

with a certain each,

till

exhausted. order,

all

book containing

number of the words

pictures of things,

brief sentences attached to

and phrases of Latin were

These, he said, should be explained in

and committed

memory.

Method of Languages. But

most

opinion (as I

important attempt, in Comenius's have elsewhere stated), was that made by

an Irishman

a Jesuit father in the Anglican seminary

the

Salamanca, to which reference has been already made. This man, in conversation with some Englishmen, members of an embassy to Spain, when asked how at

man might

mended

his

learn the Spanish language quickly,

own method

for learning Latin.

com-

had

printed a book in which Latii words with a Spanish

were arranged in complete sentences, in such a way (the same words never being repeated) that any one learning these sentences would know the translation

This conversation

foundations of the Latin tongue.

took place in 1605, and the book published

England with

German

was afterwards

an English and French

and was reproduced

version,

addition of a

itself

Germany with

version by Isaac Habrecht.

the

The

celebrated Scioppius published a Latin-Italian edition,

and afterwards, in 1636, at Basel, an edition German-Greek-Hebrew appeared. In

1628,

says Comenius,

in Latin-

when meditating on

the

book, and having already come to the conclusion that words and things were best subject of a Latin

learned together,

first

planned a book

which

all things,

and actions and passions of should be presented, and to each should be

the properties of things, things,

assigned

its

own proper word,

believing that in one

and the same book the whole connected things might be surveyed historically, fabric of things

and words reduced L

series of

and the whole one continuous

The Educational System.

context.

mentioning

purpose to some friends,

one of them directed my attention to the Jesuit father's Janua Linguarum, and gave me a copy. I leapt with but on examination,

joy

;

plan.

found that

did not

fulfil

In 1631 Comenius issued his Janua Lingua Latinae Reserata, which was cordially received, and found its translation

way by

Asiatic, languages.

him

satisfied

into

most European, and some book

short experience of the

that an introduction to

was needed,

The and he then published a Vestibulum in 1632. idea and plan of the Palatium and Thesaurus^ (as mentioned

in the Didactica) followed in

due course.

THE METHOD. It

appears that

many

was some hidden virtue used

teachers, believing that there

in the

Janua of Comenius, had

without discretion, and had consequently been

Comenius points out that disappointed in the results. while a good text-book is always essential to the teacher, the expected fruits can be gathered only by the application of a

good method.

The desideratum which method

supplies

a simple

and short way to the knowledge of a language. So far as words are concerned, this way is through things. Words are only the ministers of things, and if we study the former through the first

latter,

conditions of good method 1

shall find satisfied.

one of the

Hence

Called sometimes Atrium and Palatium.

the

Method of Languages.

165

text-books published by Comenius which have been so

and which

frequently referred to,

our next chapter. But this is not

all

will

be described

the teacher must not only see

that the pre-conditions of a

good method are

satisfied

;

but he must himself follow a sound method in teaching.

What

that

method ?

down

It is already laid

Great Didactic syncretically,

in the

worked out by compariBut Comenius, Nature.

i.e.

son with something else, viz., never weary of his task, takes up the question afresh, and now deals with it analytically. He asks the question,

'What

is it

another learn knows.'

To do

to teach?'

and answers, 'To make

and know what the teacher already this with art, is to follow certain defined

paths in teaching which will insure that acquisition is He then asks 'what it is to quick, easy, and solid. learn,'

the

and answers,

unknown through

statement

To advance the known.'

to the

knowledge of

From

this analytic

he deduces, under the head of General

Didactic, eighty propositions in thoroughly scholastic style,

and with not a

genuine substance. through these in

little

of the scholastic poverty of

would be a waste of time

detail, as all that is really

been already exhibited

in the

Great

valuable has

Didactic.

of his propositions, however, are worth quoting

Some

Where nothing is taught, nothing is learned. Where the teaching is confused, the learning

confused.

Where negligent.

the

teaching

negligent,

the

learning

The Educational System.

not begin to teach any one

who

unprepared

for the teaching.

not put off teaching one

Labour

for the learner

;

who

prepared.

for the teacher, direction

of the learners. All things are to be taught by the threefold

way of

Examples, Precepts, and Exercises. Let the example always come first, the precept next,

and

let

the imitation by

Let rules be short, is

Discipline

the

way of exercise and true.

means used

Without discipline nothing nothing

follow close.

clear,

to press is

learned,

learning.

or at least

rightly.

Discipline must be a never-ceasing constant pressure;

never violent to

its

To To

;

and always graduated, so

as to be fitted

end, corporal chastisement being the final resort. learn is easier than to unlearn.

teach

easier than to unteach, for the latter

double process, the former a single one. In teaching we have to advance from few things to many, from the brief to the more lengthened, from the simple to the complex, from the general to the special, from the near to the remote, from the regular to the irregular.

Comenius passes from General Didactic to Special Didactic, applying the general principles which he has laid

down

(which in

the

method of

instruction in

knowledge generally), and to the general

Language,

Arts,

Science

and

finally,

improvement

Method of L anguages. traversing necessarily much of already traversed in the Great Didactic. schools,

167 the

ground

In dealing with Science, he gives prominence to the dictum, Nihil est in intellectu quod non frius in sensu.

The

senses are the primary

of knowledge.

They

and the constant guides

are the sole solid foundations of

Wherever it is possible, therefore, all knowledge. refer back to this ultimate basis of should teaching

sense.

must see that the thing represented

To know

stood.

the differences of things

under-

know

things.

Memory: To

clear, firm,

and

this there is

true impression

the understanding of what

necessary,

on the senses

;

first,

secondly,

Words by

presented.

themselves, capable of no order or coherence that can engage the understanding, are not to be committed if

memory, e.g. the vocables anima, esse, res, ordo, difficult to remember if so learned, are easily remem-

bered thus, Ordo aid to

memory.

est

anima rerum.

Repetitio

Writing is a great et mater est.

memoriae pater

Comenius, when he comes to Language, explains that it

difficult to

acquire language than to learn

any one department of knowledge or science ; and this because it is co-extensive with all knowable things.

Here he

The

gives

teacher

some preliminary is

e.g.

much as he is commuch as the learner can

not to teach aS

petent to teach, but only as take

directions

in.

Examples rather than precepts or

rules are to

preferred in the earlier stages of teaching.

The Educational System.

68 The

teacher has to exercise patience, as everything

must go slowly with beginners.

teacher

quick parts,

member

who

learned in his department, and of temper he should re-

apt to lose his

that his business

not to transform minds,

but to inform them.

The peated

questions of the

How

santly, solidly?

by constant

familiarising with

giving clear precepts;

and

Great Didactic are

now

re-

language to be learnt quickly, pleaAnd the general answer is, Quickly,

examples

;

pleasantly,

solidly, by continual practice;

these objects are attained generally by following method. That is to say good To insure Quickness. Clearly lay down the end at which you aim, and neglect all that does not bear on all

that it,

end

relying

keep to one example and one explanation of on practice for all else advance by gradual :

steps, never per saltum: remember that steady, continuous progress is notable progress ; therefore, no day

without a

line,

no hour without

undone when once begun. To insure Pleasantness. process in

lies in

its

The

task

leave nothing

secret 'of

a pleasant

the handling of the minds of the young

accordance with nature.

To do

otherwise

Everything should be done with paternal affection, all moroseness being banished. Brevity, order, definiteness, should characterise the substruggle against nature.

The senses must be always As human nature rejoices possible. everything should be learned through its own

stance of our teaching.

appealed to in doing,

when

Method of Languages. The utility and made manifest.

praxis.

169

bearing of what

should be

learned

Teaching should be tem-

pered with an agreeable variety, and the playful element admitted. The rivalry and emulation of free gam'es should be encouraged in lessons

Quidquid

ludo

literario, lusus ingenii stt.

To that

The

insure Solidity.

we teach the young

leading principle here

solid truth,

and what

solid use, avoiding frivolous things,

will

be of

and indeed every-

thing the truth and utility of which are not patent.

Let

our examples be very select, placing the thing to be learned distinctly before the eyes, so that every part of it

be seen

let

the rules be few, brief, clear

let exercises

be appended sufficient in number to bring the example and rule clearly out, as without these a vague idea leads to vague and uncertain imitation. Let the first foundations be solidly laid

the most important

accurately.

;

the beginnings of things are

they should be taught slowly and

precipitancy everything

destroyed.

Let everything therefore be rightly apprehended

in its

The

foun-

beginning, and secure this by examination.

dations being solidly laid, proceed cautiously with the superstructure.

Let nothing be laid on the top of Non multa sed

foundations not yet firmly settled.

multum.

much and est.

sible.

Those who sow much and plough reap

Bring

all

Above

little.

Minus

lose

the senses into requisition wherever posall,

and rules being given, Let repetitions and examinaLet the pupils be required to teach

the examples

give continual practice. tions

serere et

little,

melius arare satius

be constant.

The Educational System.

170

Comenius presses the

what they have acquired. importance of

this

Fortius

docuerit frequentius.

preceptoribus

meis,

Tanto quis

erit

says,

Multa

didici

ego

sed plura a condiscipulis

great

quanlo

doctior,

meis ;

a a

autem plurima.

discipulis

Comenius continues

enforce

these

principles,

especially pressing the importance of graded books with

much of the grammar or formal part of language necessary to the understanding of them, and with He points out the importsuitable lexicons attached. ance of giving the pupil root-words and the formation

only as as

of their derivatives so as to give a stock of vocables.

recurs frequently to the proposition, which with

is vital,

and

that a language

that the text

which

source out of which

drawn

;

the

be learned through

treats of things shall

all

grammar and

him

things,

be the

language-knowledge shall be lexicon, even in their graded

and modified forms, being merely subsidiary. This leads him to the description of the principles on which his

own school-books were

Without books that

constructed.

artificially

constructed

evident

Comenius's method could not be carried out:

these books present, according to him, a sure, short,

and pleasant mode of access same things are treated of cessive stage in

to all Latin authors. in each, but at

more advanced form

The

each suc-

the Vestibulum

giving only the simplest sentences, comprising primitive

and root-words, and only the ordinary regular inflections and rules ; the Jan.ua introducing to the full grammatical structure

and body of the language, and the Atrium

Method of Languages.

171

introducing to phrases, idioms, and elegances all these taken together constituting, as the initial letters of these various books indicate, a Via to authors. The best ;

instruments, however, are useless without a good

and a teacher who

method

not only skilled in his art, but 'greed)' of teaching:' if any other shall take up the work, he will prostitute both himself and his art. of teaching,

Following the above method, and using text-books such as those compiled by the author, the pupil

already furnished with

all

brought has been

within the Palace of Latin Authors.

the words necessary to enable

him to enter with advantage on the study of those which treat of Realia,

such as Pliny in Natural Science, Vitin Medicine, Celsus ; in Eco;

ruvius in Architecture

nomics, Varro and Columella,

But with a view

etc.

phrases and the daily forms of speech, and oratorical and poetical language, he must study other authors, or rather portions of them. is

a lexicon.

For

mar should never be absent: hand, the

the

this,

Again, whatever author

Grammar should be

first

requirement

read, the

the author

in the other, as

Gramin

one

Erasmus

recommends.

acquire a thorough knowledge of Latin, and the

power of writing it purely and elegantly, the method is threefold, viz., by Analysis, by Excerpts, and by Imitation. i.

Analysis.

The

object of this

lation into the vernacular.

First,

accurate transclose

ascertain the purport of the passage before

attention

you

;

then

The Educational System.

172

examine closely the way in which the author attains his end, what words he uses, what phrases, what arguments, what sentences, how these are arranged, as

were, rearticulated the text.

Excerption.

Transfer into a repertory or diary

words, phrases, and opinions,

etc.,

which

all

strike you.

This has three stages. First, Metaan author and into the vernacular, turning

Imitation.

i.e.

phrasis,

some days

after

retranslating

the result with the original, corrections.

thus

you have,

Superficial study

value.

little 2.

until

Secondly,

take the words in

them

correctly

;

or,

him

into Latin, comparing and making the requisite

Turning the Latin into Latin, confused order, and try to write

abridge the text

or,

;

amplify

the insertion of additional words in the form of epithets, or

phrases,

sentences.

Thirdly,

form of a familiar

attempt, in the

to write in the style of the author for imitation,

Imitation

proper:

epistle or otherwise,

who has been

selected

on a subject of present importance but

similar to that treated of

by the Latin author, comparing

our production with that of the classic selected for we have so transformed ourselves into

imitation, until

him,

e.g.

Cicero, that nothing will be agreeable to our

ears which has not a Ciceronian sound.

In following these practical directions we must take care to keep to one author as our model,

The

daily.

culty

and

to practise

exercises should also be graduated in

diffi-

in retranslating into Latin, for example, the

work

should at

first

be done immediately

passage, and, after a

little

after reading the

practice, at longer intervals.

Method of L anguages.

173

With a view to promote the universal and ready Comenius again suggests, as part of

acquisition of Latin, his '

institution of schools

method, the

Roman

cities,'

which would be

and where nothing but Latin should

be spoken or heard.

further points out

how, by the adoption of his method, the learning of many languages would be facilitated, for not only would the same method be followed, but the same sequence of initiatory books in a parallel series. The Grammars of the various languages also

would be constructed on the same

grammar

in so far as the

lines as the Latin

languages were common.

method of studying language mutatis mutandis, to all arts and sciences,

After showing that the is

applicable,

and recommending the construction of systematic compendiums of all things on the ascending scale of his Latin text-books

(e.g.

Philosophy a Vestibulum, then z-Janua,

and then an Atrium), Comenius proceeds influence which his method would exercise

show the

improving

the internal condition of schools, in promoting learning

and a genuine, thorough, and widespread acquisition

the Latin tongue, in attracting the learned to the study

of things instead of words, and concludes with an appeal to theologians and to the secular powers.

PART

III.

PART

III.

COMENIUS'S TEXT-BOOKS AND THE USING THEM.

WAY OF

IN the writing of text-books Comenius had his predeThe method of Lubinus, which I have briefly cessors. explained on page 162, approximates very closely to that of Comenius, while the

Jamia of

the Jesuit father must

have supplied a valuable repertory of words and phrases. It is to mistake Comenius's plan to say that his object

was

to arrange all the

more common words of the Latin

tongue in a series of sentences, with a view to exhaust all

the ordinary vocabulary.

end

certainly, but

through

wishes to attain this

things.

considers that

he can conceive a course of elementary lessons on things in general, he will necessarily call into requisition

all

the usual vocabulary of Latin,

This

through things.

and so teach Latin

in accordance with his great

pansophic idea. i.

THE VESTIBULUM. First Edition.

This Latin Primer, though published subsequently comes first in order. It is an introduction

to \hejanua,

The Text-Books. to the

from

fanua, and,

for this reason,

175

Comenius departed

a series of simple colloquies. Upwards of 1000 Latin words were selected and reduced to short sentences, all of them dealing his first intention of

making

with things and their properties. into seven chapters comprising

chapters are thus entitled 1.

These were thrown

Concerning the accidents or qualities of things ; no

verbs being used save the substantive verb, est aeternus;

creta alba, sal

dulce,

lubrica,' 2.

The

427 sentences.

Deus

temporarius. Color est multiplex: tabula nigra, cinnabaris rubra. Mel est

Ossa dura, caro

salsum.

and so

mollis,

Concerning the actions

Herba

flagrat.

glacies

forth over sixty-two propositions.

and passions of

'Sol lucet, luna splendet, stellae micant.

flamma

e.g.

mundus

crescit,

folium

things

e.g.

Ignis ardet,

viret, flos floret.'

In this way he runs through the most obvious facts concerning things in the heavens; the elements; man's

body

(e.g.

caput repletur cerebro, tegiturque capillis, the mind, diseased conditions, the

excepto vultu);

different trades, etc.

The third chapter treats of the circumstances of things, and this enables the author to introduce 3.

adverbs, prepositions,

unde

and numerals.

For example

Cum

Ubi oppido. ducimus, ante nos pelliraus, a nobis trudimus.' 4. The fourth chapter treats of things in the school. Atramentum est in atramentario calami For example '

fuisti ?

redis ?

in calamario 5.

quibus scribimus in charta,' etc. The fifth chapter treats of things at home. ;

nobis

The Educational System.

Concerning things in the

city.

Concerning the Virtues. The rule followed is the opposite of that 7.

now almost

universal in elementary books; words are never repeated if it

be possible to avoid

The German pupil

Latin.

repetition.

given in parallel columns, and the to read the German first, and then the required

The

lesson said in the morning

After going

written in the afternoon.

always to be several times

through the book, the pupil learns it off by heart, so many sentences each day. Along with the reading, the declension and conjugation of the words proceeds :

first, nouns by themselves, then nouns with adjectives. Tables of the declensions and conjugations are ap-

pended, to which reference is constantly to be made. In declining, the terminations of the cases are not to

be said by

heart, but to

first

teacher giving the vernacular

a cloud

what

is to

what

boy

After this has been done several

times, the tables are quickly

memory.

nubes

or for a cloud ? and so on, the

referring to his tables.

Thus

learned by practice, the

first, e.g.

the boy

who

and

easily

committed to

has properly mastered

this

Latin Primer will have acquired 1000 vocables, and a knowledge of the regular declensions and conjugations.

In the Dissertatio de sermonis Latini studio he enters

even more into detail to

;

the Vestibulum, he says,

be read and written out

is first

for the sake of the Latin

words only, without translation. begin it over again and translate,

The first,

pupil

then to

the vernacular into

the Latin, and thereafter the Latin into the vernacular.

The Text- Books. Some knowledge but parsing

of the parts of speech

177 to be obtained,

The

not to be pressed.

chief things are

the easy reading and writing, and the thorough acquisiof the words.

tion

The

vernacular version

to be

each separate sentence (later the author prefixed was content with a vernacular version printed by itself, to

but as one book with the Latin). vernacular is to be first learned.

end of the Vestibulum

all

The index

be used

the

cases

this

at the

way

be given, and the sentence, or series of words in the text where it is found, is then to be given by the pupil from memory. The writing of the morning's

word

lessons at the afternoon meetings

on by Comenius, because senses, fixes

The

constantly insisted

by engaging the the exercise in the minds of the pupils. this exercise,

of declensions

learning of the tables

begun only at the fourth reading of the text-book. Comenius assumes that the text-book will be perused ten times, and in this way thoroughly got by heart. Before leaving

it,

exercises were to be given in translat-

more or less connected, of the words in the Vestibulum and its index. composed

ing into Latin fresh sentences

Second Edition. I

have been thus particular

in describing the first

Vestibulum, and the mode of using the principles of Comenius's method

edition of the

because

all

procedure are exemplified in

be embodied

in a text-book,

plan of his other books.

it,

in so far as these

and because

it,

can

exhibits the

The Educational System.

In the second edition of the Vestibulum (published, or at least written, between 1650

and 1654, during

school

the

experience

Hungary)

plan

his

altered.

Comenius had made up his mind that, as children, when learning to speak, used words before they made sentences, so the Vestibulum should consist of

lists

words only, with this condition, that there should be a coherence between the words of a group, thus :

Elementa

57.

Ignis, aer, aqua,

58. In aethere

Sidera.

quibus veniunt

59. Sidera sunt

Lux, radius, lumen.

Sine lumine est

6 1.

igne

Calor, frigus, aestus, gelu.

Sol, luna, Stella.

In sole sunt

60.

terra.

venit

Umbra, caligo, tenebrae. Flamma, scintilla, fumus,

fuligo.

And

so on, selecting associated words, and, as

possible, primitive words,

The words

under 500 classes of

number about 5000.

are in

much

things.

The boy who

had got up the whole thoroughly would accordingly possess some 5000 vocables, besides the outlines of

Latin accidence. that encyclopaedic

broader basis was thus laid for

knowledge of

things,

and of words

1 through things, than could otherwise be done.

Mode of using the Vestibulum. The object is to The class using the book must prepare for the Janua. be able to write fluently, as well as to read articulately, 1

We get hints as to the use of this Latin Primer from Comenius's

letter to the teacher

the

of the Vestibulary class at Patak, also from

Vestibulart Praxi, etc.

The Text-Books.

179

Latin words, whether in print or MS. They will learn by heart the words of the Latin tongue given in their text-book, with the translation of them,

and acquire

perfect familiarity with the regular declensions and con-

The vernacular

jugations.

of the Latin

fixed to the school editions of the book,

first

this

and

be pre-

this is to

read and learned, and thereafter the Latin.

way

the words, which introduce to the elements of

encyclopaedic knowledge, will be relation to things,

first

known

and then the Latin words

to the vernacular, the pupil thus going

in their

in relation

from the known

Two months

the unknown.

should be spent in and thoroughly understanding acquiring the vernacular to

text, in fact in learning it

heart, before entering

The Latin

the Latin equivalent.

text is then to

occupy

The teacher is always to read and explain beforehand what his pupils are afterwards to read and explain, and to be careful that no lesson is passed from

four months.

till

thoroughly acquired.

write the exercise in a book, it

The

heart.

and

The

outlines of Latin

in Latin, but they are to

pupils are then to

to conclude with saying

grammar

are given

be carefully translated and Three months are

understood before being learned.

presumed

suffice

for

learning the

grammar.

The

directions given have simply reference to the thorough

acquisition of the forms. heart, but above

all,

They

are to be learned by

questions are to be asked in every

and these questions are to be put in Latin. sentences are to be constructed illustrating the

possible way, Little

cases, tenses, etc. etc.,

and

after all this is

done the

text

The Educational System.

180

of the Vestibulum

The

be again gone over and parsed. simply a list of words with

Lexicon, which

number-references to the part of the text in which they may be found, is finally to be read over chiefly to test the pupil's knowledge of the

presumed now

meaning of

all

the words

have acquired. In his Ventilabrum Sapientiae he expresses a desire is

that the Vestibulum should

be thrown into a dialogue

form, that the vernacular of the Latin rules should be printed in parallel columns, things

named should be

and

that pictures of the

introduced.

In 1657 Comenius published an addition to the

last

edition of the Vestibulum, in which the primitive words

already used, and

many

tariuni)

done

was intended

others,

were worked up into

This book (called the Auc-

short simple sentences.

to serve as a revision of the

work

in the Vestibulum, to initiate into the construction

of sentences, and to serve as a bridge to the Janua.

was distinguished from the Vestibulum in this respect, that whereas the latter was an arrangement of words under the head of Things (classified), the former But

was in fact a lexicon was alphabetically arranged thrown into simple sentences e.g. under B we have such sentences as these vel butus.

balaena

;

Baccas

fert laurus,

non

betula,

Bellua maxima, in sylvis est Barrus, in aquis

and so

forth.

The

title

Parvulis parvulus, omnibus omnia.

Latinae linguae Auctarium

;

voces

of the book was

Hoc

est,

Vestibuli

Latinas primitivas

construi coeptas et in sententiolas breves redactas exhibens.

The Text- Books. Fn praeludium Sylvam Latinam '

A little book for

little

ones,

181

ingressiiris

datam,

things for all

all

that

i.e.

say, a

Supplement to the Vestibule of the Latin tongue, exhibiting Latin primitive words in construction, and thrown into brief

little

sentences, given as a prelude to

those about to enter the Latin Forest'

the 'Forest'

being the collection of Latin words which formed the introduction to the last edition of the Janua.

An When

accident led him to construct the Auctarium. in

directed

Amsterdam an

England with additions

1656 he had

edition

the Janua,

found that

attention

published in

those additions professing to

give the roots of the Latin tongue

his

this addition

woven

into sentences.

departed in almost every

respect from the principles of his books, and was of a

kind to disgust rather than to attract boys. The idea, however, pleased him, and he set himself to construct the supplement to the Vestibulum under the given.

It is to

and a bridge to the Janua. 2.

title

above

be used as a revisal of the Vestibulum It

was published

THE JANUA LINGUAE LATINAE

in 1657.

RESERATA.

First Edition.

The full title of this famous book is The Gate of Languages Unlocked, or the Seminary of all Languages and

Sciences

that

is,

a compendious method of learn-

ing Latin or any other tongue, along with the elements of all the Sciences and Arts, comprehended under a

hundred chapter-headings and

in a

first published in the year 1631.

thousand sentences

;

The Educational System.

The one thousand

sentences again comprehend eight

thousand different words in

The

all.

sentences are at

simple, and thereafter compound and complex. After an introduction he begins, according to his panfirst

sophic or encyclopaedic plan, with the origin of the world, and in the course of his lessons takes a survey of

all

nature,

and even includes morals and

religion.

frequently happens, however, that a chapter is introduced for for the sake of the words, not of the things taught :

example, the chapter

on Ulcers and Wounds.

The

Deus omnia

creavit

easiest sentences are of this fashion,

The more

nihilo.'

following,

Nam

oritur. gliscit,

difficult are

'Incendium ex quavis quidquid

ignem

exemplified by the

scintilla, si permittis,

concipit,

primum

dein ardet, turn flagrat et flammat; postremo,

crematum

redigitur in favillas et cineres.'

Carrying out his expressed aim, Comenius endeavours throughout to give equal attention to both things and words, but it is things that give the cue.

The headings of some

of his chapters will convey some scope of his writing Concerning the Origin of the World. Concerning the Elements. Con-

idea of the

cerning the Firmament, Fire, Meteors, Waters, Earths, Stones,

Metals,

Trees

and

Fruits,

Herbs,

Shrubs.

These things are treated of in thirteen chapters and one hundred and forty-one sentences. Then we have 'Concerning Animals,' which, under visions, occupies inclusive.

Members;

the

book

different

subdi-

to the nineteenth chapter

Then Concerning Man his Body ; External Internal Members; the qualities or acci:

The Text- Books. dents of the

Body

Diseases

;

the External Senses

;

follow,

;

these occupy the

book

All the mechanic

the twenty-ninth chapter inclusive.

now

Wounds Mind the

Ulcers and

the Internal Senses

Will and the Affections

arts

183

and are concluded

in the forty-eighth

The rest of the book chapter and 539th sentence. treats of the House and its parts Marriage and the Family, in which occur statements which are very :

curious as showing the freedom with which things were

spoken about to the young of 250 years ago. follows Civic

and

tion of officers

and

Economy, including a descrip-

State

institutions.

The

seventieth chap-

Grammar, and goes on to Dialectic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, and all branches of knowledge, briefly describing what these are. In the ter begins with

eighty-second chapter Ethics

introduced, and twelve

chapters are assigned to twelve virtues. Burial, the

Providence of

God and

Games, Death, Angels form the This

subjects of the concluding chapters.

encyclo-

psedism.

The German was to be read

Comenius

equivalent ran in parallel columns,

thus,

ingenuity, gives

substance

with

effect

labour

great

to his

own

school-instruction

and

no small

conceptions of the

and the method of

teaching languages at one and the same time.

reader

will at

once see that the

lines

are constructed are precisely the

The

on which the Janua

same

as those

on which

down, and the following highertext-book (Atrium) again repeats (as mil shortly

the Vestibulum class

and

first.

laid

The Educational System.

184

be seen) the substance of the Janua in a still more A brief grammatical developed and extended form. and Lexicon was to be added to the Janua, Appendix but

have not met with these except in connection new edition, of which I will now speak.

with the

Second Edition.

The improved form of the Janua was published between 1650-54, during his school experience in Hungary, though substantially written at Elbing before 1650. It is

on the same

lines as the first edition, but

more elaborate and more

difficult.

much

In the fifteenth

chapter of the Novissima Linguarum Methodus he partly He has discarded the explains the changes made.

he had previously imposed on himself, of not this he calls a superstition. The repeating words him latitude thus to write about allowed enables greater restriction

things'

fully

and

The Lexicon,

freely.

or Forest

Words (Sylva Verborum], strange to say (and con1 trary to his original plan), comes first, and aims at being

etymological throughout.

Moreover,

and not

Latin-vernacular.

gone

first

and

finally the

over, then the

Janua

itself.

Latin-Latin

intends this Lexicon to

Grammar which As

follows,

to a vernacular-Latin

Lexicon, he thinks that boys should construct that for themselves. Again, whereas it was thought desirable that the vernacular should accompany, nay precede, the 1

But in accordance with the plan of the second edition of the

Vestibulum.

The Text- Books.

185

Latin in the original Janua, the former

The

reasons for

now

discarded.

beginning with the Lexicon, and then

proceeding to the

Grammar and

thereafter to the text

of the Janua, curiously illustrate the fancifulness of the

'When we want to build a [wooden] go to the wood and cut down trees (this the Lexicon of words) then we shape and fit the wood

author's mind.

house we is

first

;

cut

down

(this is the

proceed to build the tive).'

Grammar) house

(i.e.

;

and

The

practical result

lists

of vocables which would

through octavo pages, and then a

it is

only then

to give continuous narrathat the pupil has to go fill

two hundred

Grammar which would fill The text itself.

before he begins the text-book

fifty,

itself is

composed of one hundred

short treatises about

everything on the earth, in the earth, and above the earth,

including an account of man, and brief state-

ments of morals and theology. encyclopaedia, natural order,

school-book.

is,

in short,

arranged not alphabetically, but in a

and would

Comenius

fill

250 pages of an ordinary

apologises,

indeed,

for

not

introducing everything about everything; the state of

The knowledge, he regrets, does not admit of it. vocables of the Lexicon are not by any means exhausted in the text, but all the words in the text are understood to be found in the Lexicon the boy finds not,

them

there,

;

but when

which he very often

will

presented with their significations in Latin

only! I shall give here a

specimen of

his lessons, taking

the beginning of his eighteenth lesson.

The Educational System.

i86

Quadrupeda: primum, mansueta pecora

Quadrupes quid, 161

partes

illius

jumenta.

essentiales, 162

genera, 163: pecora majora, 164: etminora, 165, 6, 7,8:

jumenta, 169

Canes,

mures, 170, 71, 72.

feles,

Quadrupeda progenerant foetum vivum, aluntque uberum grandiora unicum et rarius, minutiora

161. lacte

plures et frequentius. 162.

Pro integumento habent

lanam vel

setas vel

armatos unguibus

(ut

;

Canis,

vel piles vel villos vel

pedes autem vel digitatos etc.,)

vel ungulates

ungulave solida (ut equus) vel bifida (ut bos).

quidem

And

squamas

on through twelve paragraphs. Comenius, under the influence

It is quite clear that

some

fantastic notions of consistency developed in Novissima Methodus, has deserted nearly all that is most characteristic and original in his system, excepting his encyclopsedism. Of this he never loses sight.

his

Mode of using come first, then

the

Janua.

The

Lexicon, or words,

Grammar, which teaches how to weave these words into speech, and then the text of the the

fanua, which lays the foundations, in a of all knowledge. Comenius defends

series of lessons, this order, as I

on the ground that words are the rudiments of speech, and that the materials of house-building must be supplied before we begin to build a house. The have

said,

boys accordingly are first to read with the master the words and their derivatives, as set down in the Lexicon, 1

See Letter to the Teacher of the Janual Class studio disserlatio, and elsewhere.

sermoms

;

also

Lntini

The Text- Books. as often as

may be

transcribe

them

say

them by

187

necessary, then take their pens and

into their writing-books, and, finally,

heart.

The Grammar, which

have

said, Latin,

presumed

a complete

syntax of the language, omitting elegancies,

etc., is, as I

but the prior study of the Lexicon is the Latin intelligible, while its simple

make

compared with other Grammars, makes and attractive. The text of the Janua is finally easy to be taught in the same manner as the Vestibulum was construction, as it

taught.

In his later years Comenius himself became sensible recommended that the vernacular

of certain defects, and

all

words should be given

the Lexicon, and also

that the vernacular of the text should be

printed in

parallel columns; thus returning to his original ideas.

The mode of

using the Janua

given in more detail a propos of

in the Dissertatio de Sermonis Latini Studio,

the

first

edition,

and he there

tells

us that the object, as

regards mere language, is to give the pupil all the common words of the Latin tongue, to teach him their

meanings and

roots,

and

also to teach

him

form

sentences out of them with grammatical correctness. An Etymological Lexicon and a Grammar containing the body of the language

(all

save special idioms and

elegancies) are consequently added. is to be gone through At the second reading the whole should be vernacular and Latin. The teacher should

Like the Vestibulum, ihefanua ten times. written out,

at this stage

them

also to

speak in Latin to his pupils, and induce speak to each other in Latin ; and with a

The Educational System.

view to the increase of knowledge,

will conversationally

and amplify the lessons of the Janua.

explain

At the

third reading, the teacher will read out the Latin

Meanwhile the

call for the translation.

Syntactical

Grammar

At the fourth will

be written

and of the acquired.

will

first

be written out by the pupils.

perusal, the remainder of the out,

and the naming of the

inflexions in the text of the

At the

fifth

and

part of the

Grammar

parts of speech

Janua thoroughly

reading, special attention will

be given to the roots and derivatives, and the pupils

At the

begin to write out the Lexicon.

will

and

sixth

be explained; synonyms, paronyms, the seventh reading the whole will be thoroughly

perusal,

will

etc.,

parsed with reference to the syntactical rules, which will be written out carefully with their subjoined

examples.

The

At the ninth reading

the eighth perusal. tion will

the text

recitation of

be paid to the

logical analysis

on the substance of the sharpens the wit.

The

text

will

begin at

special atten-

examination

and on grammar.

afternoon

This

always to be spent

work, in throwing the of The form question and answer. Janua of the will consist each tenth perusal boys challenging writing out

the morning's

into the

other to repeat parts of the

text.

The

written exercises

Latin compositions, the vernacular being constructed by the teacher (apologues, fables, etc.) out

will consist of

of the words in the lated into Latin It

his

Janua and

its

Lexicon, and trans-

by the pupils.

has to be noted that Comenius, in his preface to

Auctarium

(vol. iv.),

distinctly repudiates the first

The Text- Books.

189

edition of the Janua, and wishes to be judged by the second edition, which is substantially a new book. His words are Januam nostram linguarum postremam '

pleniorem illam Encyclopaediolae faciem referentem et prae qua priorem illam non amplius agnoscimus nostram.' In doing so he deserted his own principles.

THE ATRIUM.

The

third Latin

was

book was

called the Atrium,

and

to effect the transition

from the Janua to the

Palatium or Palace of Authorsi

Comenius now wishes

this

to introduce the pupil to the Latin tongue, used in a

thefanua. The sentences are longer, and the treatment of each subject more ample. The freer

way than

main end kept

view

the familiarising of the pupil

with the elegancies and idioms of the language, and the introducing

him

to rhetoric in a practical form.

he gives a

effect this,

designed to gather into

Grammar

of Latin specially

one view the

peculiarities

and

elegancies of the Latin tongue. This Grammar is written in Latin, and the pupil is to be now presumed competent to understand

acquaintance Latin,

with

it.

the

While intent on giving the pupil varieties and peculiarities of

and furnishing him with a

liberal copia verborum,

he does not depart from his great principle to make things carry words. The text of the Atrium follows the

Janua, but indulges in a larger and more detailed treatment of the same subjects. In the

same

line as the

The Atrium

and the Palatium

is is

called elsewhere

Palatium

called the Thesaurus.

in the Didactica,

The Educational System.

Janua, for example, he contents himself with such a sentence as this '

Omnia

Quippe ex

reliqua ex his [quatuor elementis] constant. iis

generantur,

iis

corrumpuntur resolvuntur.' In the Atrium he expands

nutriuntur, in

eadem dum

this as follows

Hae

sunt elementaris mundi rotae quatuor, per quas Elementis vacans locus nullus eunt et redeunt omnia. '

est

omnia

his

referta

tamque

dense'

stipata sunt ut

sed agitatio, attritus, permistio; quorum temperatura salutem dat rebus, ininane spatium nusquam

temperies pemiciem. in sua redire principia

And

detur,

Solatio est,

indeque

quid corrumpitur,

res prodire novas.'

so on with the usual 100 chapters and 1000

paragraphs (which, in the Janua first edition were merely short sentences). In the edition before me, the

Atrium extends over 153

folio

columns, and

consi-

derably longer than Caesar's Gallic War. The comparison of the two passages which

have

cited will give a clear idea of the differences between

the two books.

This book having been thoroughly mastered, along its accompanying Grammar, the pupil is now supposed to be able to enter freely on the study of Latin authors, a Palatium or Thesaurus of selected works

with

being put before him. And certainly any boy, who had mastered it, would be quite competent to attack Cassar, The poets, Sallust, and the easier Orations of Cicero.

however, would present a

whom

the

difficulty, for the

way had not been prepared.

reading of

The Text- Books. Mode of Grammar in

using

the

Latin

sumed

The

Comenius

not

general

;

then the

text,

and

method of procedure

as in

explicit,

Latin

complete

prefixed to the Atrium,

same

to be the

Atrium,

be first studied by the pupils the Lexicon.

191

and

the Janua, but it

finally is

pre-

this

would seem as

considered the printing of the vernacular to be unnecessary at this advanced stage. that

he intended the Atrium, with

We its

cannot imagine Grammar, to be

The human mind could

learned by heart.

not have

borne the burden.

SUBSIDIARY TEXT-BOOKS.

The Orb is Pictus (The World

Illustrated).

In 1657 appeared the Orbis Pictus, the second edition This book was intended to be following in 1659.

supplementary and subsidiary to the Vestibulum and Janua. It is simpler than even the first edition of the

Janua, and much more suitable for a school-book than In this little the second edition of the Vestibulum.

book Comenius in

any

other, for

more fully than we have not only a simple treatment

applies his principles

of things in general, but of things that appeal to the senses, and along with the lessons we have pictures of the objects that form the subjects of the lessons.

deed, the book

may be

In-

best described as a series of

rude engravings of sensible objects, accompanied by a For description of them in short and easy sentences. example,

we have

the picture of a ship with

its

sails

The Educational System.

192 partly set,

and a number attached to each part of the

ship, which corresponds to a number in the lesson thus the No. 2 is engraved on the sails, and in the :

lesson

The

we have

title

'The ship has (2) sails.' 'The World of Sensible

this sentence,

of the book was,

Things drawn ; that is, the Nomenclature of all Fundamental Things in the World and Actions in Life reduced to Ocular Demonstration, so that it may be a Lamp to the Vestibulum ^\A.Janua of Languages.' 1

There were various editions of the Orbis ; that however which was in most complete accord with Comenius's

plan was arranged in three columns, thus auf der Erden

Super terra

hohe berge1

monies 1

2 profundae valles

tiefe

die Erde.

altus-a-um, hoch.

Thaler2

profundus-a-um,

Etc.

The

1 f.,

sond

sunt alti

terra

figures referred to a

tief.

Etc.

wood-engraving of a land-

scape on the same page, and were affixed to the mountains, hills, etc., as has been explained above in the case of the lesson on the ship.

'The foundation of menius

in the preface,

all '

learning consists,' says Co-

in representing clearly to the

senses sensible objects, so that they can be apprehended easily.

maintain that this

the basis of all other actions,

inasmuch as we could neither unless or do. 1

fied.

we comprehended For

clearly

act nor speak wisely what we wished to say

certain that there

nothing in the

In some of the very numerous editions the title is slightly modiThe editions also varied in other respects, but the above

gives Comenius's

own conception

of the book.

The Text- Books.

193

Understanding which has not been previously in the Sense ; and consequently, to exercise the senses carefully in discriminating the differences

to lay the foundation of all

and

good and prudent

all

of natural objects

wisdom,

action.'

all

eloquence,

It is the

from the school of the object about which we

absence

may be

speaking that makes learning and teaching alike so troublesome and fruitless.

The and

whom

for enabling

mentary book.

you

;

done by Michael Endter of Nuremfelt most grateful for his labours,

cuts were

berg, to

him '

to complete his design of an ele-

This work,' he

entirely

new

writes,

your profession.

belongs to

You have

given a correct and clear edition of the Orbis Pictusy

and furnished

figures

the attention will be

This

pleased.

cuts, by the help of which awakened and the imagination

will, it is

the publication, but It

and

will

expense of be certainly returned to you.'

true, increase the

was consistent with the plan of the book, that

should contain the vernacular only, or the Latin only, Comenius suggests that the vernacular itself or both.

would be best learned from the

Orbis.

The Janua

sale, and was published in many but the editions and sale of the Orbis Pictus

had an enormous languages

;

exceeded those of the Janua, and, indeed, for some time it was the most popular school-book in Europe^

far

and deservedly

so.

The Educational System.

The Schola Ludus.

Comenius frequently

states

in his writings that the

element of sport should be introduced into schools, and with this view constructs a school drama, in which the

Janua (and a good

Atrium) sen

deal of the language of the

The Hoc

introduced.

Encyclopaedia

praxis Scenica

tiendas, sensibus

res

Viva,

title

is,

Schola

Januae Linguarum

est,

omnes nomenclatures Vestitas

ad vivum

Ludus et Ves-

repraesentandi artificium exhi-

amoenum.

acts,

In this singular production there are five twenty-one scenes, and fifty-two dramatis personae.

The

object of the author

bens

to give a theatric praxis of

the Janua, and partially of the Atrium, by bringing the facts of the natural

The

world into a scenic representation.

characters represent the various

knowledge,

e.g.

the

geographer,

chemist, and so forth. of the second act, Water

the

metallurgist,

For example, is

departments of in the fifth

the

scene

the subject, and there enter

on the stage the following personages Aquinus (repreMarius in water general), (representing the sea) senting :

Nubianus (representing the

clouds),

senting rain-drops, ice, foam, etc.).

and

Stillico (repre-

These

interesting

characters give a great deal of valuable information.

Anything more dreary than

this

sportive

Janua

impossible to conceive ; yet he assures us, in his dedicatory epistle, written at Amsterdam in 1657, that it was

most popular and successful with boys and masters! and elsewhere he says that it was performed with great in applause before the Princess and all her Court

The Text- Books. Hungary. He believed that be converted into games.

Comenius was of opinion

all

195

school-exercises might

that every stage of school-

work during the Pansophic septennium might have

its

dramatic exhibition.

This dramatic sport in intellectual work he connects mystically with the words of

Wisdom

(the Son), in the 8th chapter of Proverbs

' :

was by Him as one brought up with Him and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him rejoic;

;

ing in the habitable part of

were with the sons of

The

men

its

influence

delights

Ludus

signification of

had also

His earth; and

Latin for school

as the

dramatic

suggesting these

exhibitions. 1

Text-Book of Greek.

gives a specimen of what he would propose for

boys learning Greek in

his

It published in 1657. He proposes Greek. taught to begin with

as might be expected, Latin-

Latin and

which /io/cx^r).

frater,

Greek,

differ

very

e.g.

is,

that i.

Ventilabrum

Vocabularies

The words Abyssus,

little,

e.g.

Sapientiae

should

that are alike in

a/Svo-cros.

fama,

<f>tffj-r),

Those forma,

The more common words not alike, e.g. Then a few brief Greek rules should dSeX^os. 3.

be given, and an outline of Greek accidence appended As his chief object was to to the body of the book. introduce to the Greek Testament, the text-book, he 1

For the Palatium, see end of next chapter.

196

The Educational System.

says, ought to consist of 100 select sentences of a moral kind (the Latin and Greek in parallel columns), to be

thoroughly learned, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and Ten Commandments. This would constitute a

the

Vestibulum, to be followed by a Janua, consisting of the Greek Testament in Latin and Greek, or it might be a

summary

of Testament narrative and of the Christian

faith.

So with Hebrew. In concluding

this

to be stated that

account of the text-books,

Comenius himself

his

has

old age

admitted that he had departed from one of his own leading principles in attempting to teach too

much

within a limited space and time, and had burdened the

mind of boys with what was 1

A knowledge

suitable only for adults. 1

of the Text-Books

best to be obtained from

the books themselves, but in connection with them the prefaces should be read, and the letters addressed to the teachers of the

new Patak

School, an account of which

contained in the next

chapter.

PART

IV.

PART

IV.

THE INNER ORGANISATION OF A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL, AND THE INSTRUCTION-PLAN. THE

external

of a school-system has Great Didactic. The Mother

organisation

been exhibited in the

School, the Vernacular School, the Latin

School or

Gymnasium, and the University, constituted together Comenius's school-system for a school-systems of

The

State.

modern Europe, and

existing

especially that

of Germany, are a tribute to Comenius's sound judg-

ment.

The

organisation of instruction

certainly not

accordance with Comenius's pansophic or encyclopaedic aspirations, but the attention which is now given

to real studies,

and

to the cultivation of the senses,

substantially give effect to his views.

The

inner character and

school or to

Gymnasium

life

of a school

a Latin

being kept specially in view

be gathered from the 25th chapter of the Novissima and from the numerous writings of the

Methodus,

period from 1650-54, when Comenius was engaged in organising a model school at Patak, in the north-east of 1 Hungary, about twenty miles from Tokay. 1

the Theiss,

known

as the entrepot of the

Tokay

These wine.

The Educational System.

198 writings

are

numerous,

and

prolix,

very

tiresome

because of their repetitions. The following account is based on an examination of all these writings, and

ought to be compared with the ideas of the various graded schools expounded in the Great Didactic.' '

THE The word

schola

where

indicates

Indus,

assembled together to many for some end, but to strive under the conditions

institution strive

school,

SCHOOL.

are

of play, and these conditions are movement, spontaneity, society, rivalry, order,

and pleasurable

exercise,

of which things are to be attained by following the The school will thus truly methods laid down. all

become a ludus a prelude of to

The

literarius.

life is

object of the school as

to train pupils to

know

wisdom, to act, to express themselves,

The letters

loqui.

with a view sapere, agere,

of the words themselves yield the aims

of the school, thus

Sapienter

Cogitare

Honeste Operari

Loqui Argute*.

The

initial letters, it will

Schola,

and

this

be observed, make the word

quite suits Comenius's fanciful

way

of looking at things, and evidently yields him a real satisfaction.

The foundation of

all

Knowledge,

The Pansophic

School.

199

because to act wisely or speak well is impossible for an ignorant or foolish person. A school has been called Offidna Humanitatis, a

manufactory of humanity, and this designation, appears from the Great Didactic, Comenius adopts.

Now, when we say that the school is a manufactory we mean that it has to aim at producing

of Humanity,

men that perfection of humanity whereby a man becomes the image of God, the most Wise, most Powerful, most Holy.' in

When we that

it is

say that the school is an Officina, we mean a place where, by the use of certain instruments

and a certain accomplish. things

we accomplish what we

art,

The in

employed

desire to

instruments are the persons and teaching and learning, and the

down whereby tongue, action, and morals what we desire them to become hand, become. method

art is the

laid

These generally are the aims and a school

when we have passed

within

characteristics of its walls.

While

keeping them carefully in view, we have to lay down our scheme more fully.

General Statement.

The aim teach

all

things to

train to virtue ;

all, if

and wisdom. pious habit

pansophic or encyclopaedic.

;

finally,

to instil piety

we have

have to

train to

have to instruct in

we have

and,

we would

knowledge morality and

and

train to a

to form the tongue

The Educational System.

2OO

and eloquence.

Only in this way can we true humanity, and make him again the

to expression train

man

image of God.

With set

this

view the school must be organised, and a for each grade or class.

amount of work marked out

There should be seven

classes (those in the lowest class

The three lowest being about twelve years of age). should be called classes Philological ; the fourth, Philosophical

;

the

Logical

fifth,

;

the sixth, Political

;

and

the seventh, Theological.

The

Philological classes would naturally be designated

by the text-books they used

the

or lowest, which

first

would use the Vestibulum, being called Classts Vestibularis, the second Classis Janualis, and the third Classis

The

Atrialis.

Philosophical class would give a rational the Logical would give discipline in

account of things reasoning

and the logical

the Political would give instruction in laws

;

social order (including history)

would

;

and the Theo-

instruct in the mysteries of the

Kingdom

of Heaven.

separate

provided

an ample

for

room and a

each

scale.

separate master should be

class, and the building should be on There should be a public table for

poor scholars, so that the an obstacle to none.

res

angusta domi should be

In a school so organised, and with such aims, the pupils will learn

the next,

Universal

and

all

things necessary for this

that thoroughly.

Wisdom

It will

other words,

life

and

be a School of

a Schola Panso-

The Pansophic

201

School.

'There is nothing in Heaven or Earth, or in Waters, nothing in the Abyss under the earth,

phica? the

nothing in the

nothing

Holy

Human

the

in the Soul,

Writ, nothing in the Arts, nothing in in Polity,

Economy, nothing of which

Body, nothing

They

wholly ignorant.'

nothing in the Church, of Wisdom shall be

candidates

little

will

be trained further

in the

and spontaneous use of knowledge, and in prudence and morality. In this palaestra they will learn, true

not for school, but for

life,'

so that the youths shall go

forth energetic, ready for everything, apt, industrious,

and worthy of being intrusted with any of the duties of life, and this all the more if they have added to virtue a sweet conversation, and have crowned

and love of God.

They

will also

all

with the fear

go forth capable of

expression and eloquence, and that not merely in their

own

tongue, but in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

For the attainment of these great results three instruments are necessary good books, good teachers, and a :

good method. The seven classes into which the school

divided are to consist respectively of those pupils

who

same stage of progress, and are pursuing the Each class should be in a same objects of study. are at the

separate room, that the attention of the pupils

be distracted.

Each

class, again,

may

not

should be divided

1 Schola Pansophica Hoc est, Universalis Sapientiae officina ab annis aliquot ubiubigentium erigi optata nunc autem Auspiciis Illustrissimi Domini D. Sigismundi Racoci de Felseovadas, etc. '

Saros-Pataki

mundi

salutis

Hungarorum MDCLI.'

feliciter

erigenda.

Anno

redditae

The Educational System.

2O2

composed of ten boys each, and presided over by a boy older or more advanced than his fellows, who should be called Moderator, Inspector, Psedagogus, into decuriae

The duty

or Decurio. all

of the decurio will be to see that

the boys of his division are in their places at the right

work of the moment, to assist backward boys, or report them to the preceptor, and to be an example of conduct to all. The master himtime, that they attend to the

self shall

not stand in a corner, nor shall he walk about,

but he will occupy a raised position facing the light, so that he may see and be seen by all, and where drawings

and

illustrations of lessons

The

may

also be easily seen.

school-time must be so ordered that every year,

month, week, day, hour, may have its own task. The tasks should be so arranged that they are within the powers of the average mind in this way the more ordinary natures will be stimulated, while the more :

precocious and brilliant will be retarded to their advanPupils should be admitted only at the beginning tage.

of the school year.

On no

day should boys do more all in public and in

than six hours' work, and those school.

The

rest

domestic duties. school

should be given to relaxation and The school is the proper place for

work; moreover, home-work is apt to be badly is more hurtful than no

done, and badly done work

work

all.

The hours should

not be consecutive

the morning should be devoted to studies that call into requisition the intellect, the judgment,

and the memory;

the afternoon to the discipline of hand, voice, style,

demeanour

(gestus).

The Pansophic The

School.

203

occupations of the Pansophic school are not

all

of equal importance. They may be classed as primary, The primary are those which secondary, and tertiary. contain the essence or substance of Wisdom (knowledge),

and Eloquence, such

Virtue, Piety,

as Languages, Philo-

sophy, and Theology; the secondary are auxiliary to these, such as History ; the tertiary only indirectly contribute to the primary occupations,

to vigour of health

tion

and

and mental

But

sports.

all

e.g. all

alacrity,

that pertains

such as recrea-

the occupations and studies

have a place at each successive stage of progress, and are to be presented according to the same method.

At the same time, the order of the subject classes

to certain general laws

we have

instruction

for in

the

younger and to

to appeal chiefly to the senses,

cultivate observation

draw more on the

and as the pupils advance, we

;

activity of the

memory, the intellect and of what is known. the expressing power proper, In the exercise of these powers there are also degrees example, under the head of the Intellect there are :

for

comprehends the statement of the second the why of the fact, and the third

three stages fact,

;

the

first

the fundamental principles which underlie the fact and its

reason,

and enable the student

same

extend his investi-

example, a knowledge of the compass and of the use of it is the first stage, a knowledge of its construction and relation to other

gations

in the

line

for

the second stage, and such a knowledge of the principles lying at the foundation of its constructhings

tion

and application

will

enable

the

student

The Educational System.

2O4

advance further in the same the

third stage.

stages

of investigation

line

you have

Language

three

the power to prattle, to speak, and to speak

eloquently,

and

must proceed

instruction

The same remarks apply

in this order.

to the graduated order

This word is used auxiliary studies, such as History. in an extended sense in the third, or Atrial class, :

means

and on morals it

which bear on the daily

stories

deals with Natural History

God

;

in the

history of

affairs

life

in the fourth, or Philosophical class,

;

fifth,

human

the study of the works

or Logical class,

the sixth, or Political class,

the customs of various nations

deals with the

mechanical history

inventions

;

deals with the history of ;

and

in the seventh, or

Theological class, it deals with the universal history of man in the Providence of God. The first or Vestibulary,

and the second or Janual

class, are here omitted,

they are occupied with the

which stands

because

mere nomenclature of things,

for history to

young

children.

The same

remarks apply (but are not always successfully applied by Cornenius) to

The

senses,

all

the studies and exercises of the school.

he has

said,

have to be specially appealed

to in the earliest classes, since they are the guides to

knowledge.

We do

things themselves ;

means of the

not speak to our pupils, but the

and everything should be taught by

things themselves, or where these

accurate representations of them.

The

walls

fail,

of the

school should be hung with pictures, and the reading-

books should be

full

of them.

The

intellect again will

be exercised by the explanation of everything that

The Pansophic

School.

205

read or taught, and by requiring the explanation to be for we do not form parrots, but given by the scholars,

men.

The memory also has to be cultivated, for, says, Tantum scimus quantum memoria

as Quintilian

But the exercise of the memory does not

tenemus.

mean

the wearing the pupil out by requiring

him

but the frequent and sufficient ; by of things clearly understood, till, of their presentation heart

learn things off

own

accord, they adhere.

Weekly memory-contests,

which the pupils challenge each other to state what has been learned, will be of value in stimulating the

memory.

As regards

style

let

the pupils be required to write

one another on given subjects, and let weekly the decurio look after these, under the supervision of letters to

the master.

The tongue

will

be exercised by requiring that the

conversation of the boys one with another be in Latin.

The

voice will be cultivated by teaching

all

to sing,

and by teaching notation at certain fixed times. The morals and demeanour of the pupils will receive the close attention of the

masters,

and

their reproof

of wrong, and their commendation of good conduct will always be prompt. Further, the formation of a school,

with

and even of individual

its

occasionally,

do much

classes, into a republic,

senate and proctor, which will hold sessions

and pronounce judgment on conduct,

to prepare for the business of

will

life.

Piety will be fostered by taking care that in going to

bed and

rising,

prayers be said and the

Holy

Scrip-

The Educational System.

206 tures read

;

and ending the

also in beginning

studies

of the day, and before and after meals.

encourage the more active-minded boys, special reading should be allowed of authors outside the usual school-course, such as the sacred dialogues of Castalio,

the Colloquies

of Erasmus,

of Seneca,

Epistles

the

Histories of Nepos, Curtius, etc.

All sorts of exercises and innocent

games are

not only permitted but encouraged, for giving vigour

and health which

the

call for

body; and also sedentary games

a certain quickness of

wit.

Scenic representations and the acting of plays are to be encouraged as a relaxation, so long as the subject

not immoral in

Roman

the

memorable

its

character or treatment, as are

plays, but constructed to represent histories,

sacred or

profane.

some

These not

only afford recreation, but are educationally of good effect in

The hour

many

ways.

times of relaxation should be frequent

after

every hour's

The

work.

half-an-

daily time-table

should be arranged somewhat as follows

Forenoon.

6 to 7 A.M.

Hymns, Reading

Scripture,

Meditation,

and

Prayers.

The primary

task of the class

theoretically

given.

The same

2 P.M.

Music, or some other pleasant mathematical exercise.

practically given.

Afternoon.

2.30 \

3.30

History. Exercises in Style.

The Pansophic at

School.

207

There should be two half-holidays weekly ; a fortnight Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost ; and a whole

month

at the harvest-time.

still

detailed Statement.

more detailed statement of

the

work of the

be obtained by reading what we have already said of the Text-books in Part III., and by what follows seven classes

The

Vestibulary Class.

class-room should be painted

the four walls of the

the

Latin

characters,

models of the regular declensions and conjugations, and brief moral precepts.

By means the

of a thorough study of the

way already

laid

Vestibulum in

down, the class will acquire a

knowledge of things in an elementary and yet fundamental way, and also of the roots of words, that is to say,

will

gence

be instructed

and

;

in the foundations of all intelli-'

in addition to this,

will

be instructed in

form suited to boyhood. The rudiments of arithmetic will at this stage be given, a knowledge of weights, measures, and geometrical forms, and music. morality in a

The to

teacher will take advantage of the words learned

add

to the knowledge of the pupils.

II.

The Janual

painted

illustrations

objects mentioned

these the

Class.

one wall should be

the most

in the text of

more important

important natural

ihefamta, and opposite objects should be

artificial

The Educational System.

208

The remaining two

drawn. with

walls should be occupied

grammatical warnings, having reference to the

peculiarities of the pupil's mother-tongue.

In religion the Catechism should at this stage be thoroughly learned.

The knowledge cal construction

of things and words and grammatito

be obtained from ihefanua.

Addition and Subtraction figures in

Arithmetic

;

the plane

Geometry, and Music, are to be taught.

The Composition struction of clauses

exercises will consist of the con-

and sentences on the foundation of

the words and rules ofthefanua. III. The Atrial Class. The walls should be painted over with emblems, and with a selection of warnings regarding the elegancies of writing and speech.

In religion the work of this class will be to read an (in Scripture words),

and

to learn

by heart a collection of psalms, hymns,

and

prayers.

epitome of Scripture

The

pupils will

ratives

make acquaintance

which are

also with those nar-

likely to generate virtue

and

piety.

In addition to the proper study of the Atrial Textbook, Division and Multiplication in arithmetic, and Music will instruction in solid figures, should be given.

be continued and select verses from the Latin poets Exercises in style on the basis of the Atrium

read. will

be given.

this stage the Schola

Ludus

be introduced.

This, as I have elsewhere explained, was simply the fanua thrown into dramatic form in accordance with

The Pansopktc School. the author's conviction that

school might take a

all

209

the work of the Latin

gamesome form.

IV. The Philosophical Class.

the walls of this

class-room things are to be represented connected with arithmetic, geometry, statics, anatomy.

In religious instruction, hymns and forms of morning and evening prayer, and of prayers before and after meals and studies, and a life of Christ harmonised from the four Gospels, are to be read.

The

class-book will be the

first Palace of Wisdom, be a survey and explanation of all objects of nature written in a style higher and more

which there

will

ornate than the style of the previous books.

The Rule

of Three in Arithmetic, Geometry, Trigo-

nometry, and the elements of Statics, are to be taught ; also Instrumental Music, and Natural History made up out of ^Elian and Pliny.

to style,

which ought now to be on the model of this will be suspended so as to admit

classical authors

of the last of the afternoon hours being devoted to

Greek, the object being to give sufficient Greek to enable the boys, when they reach the subsequent classes, to

read the

New

Testament

V. The Logical Class.

The

in the original.

walls of the class-room

should be painted over with a selection of Rules of

Logic and ingenious emblems representing emanations of mind. 1 The religious instruction shall include the 1

Whatever

this

may mean.

The Educational System.

study of a collection of hymns and prayers and a manual of the whole Bible, to be called the Gate of the. Sanctuaiy, in which the substance of the sacred writings,

much

as possible in the words of

Holy Writ

be given also a chapter of the Greek Testament should be read daily. itself, will

The

New

afternoon hours should be devoted to Arithmetic,

Geometry, Astronomy, Geography, and the elements of Optics, along with the History of Mechanical Inventions.

The free

class-book belonging to this stage will contain a

treatment of various arts and a

strict

scientific

treatment of one, so as to bring into view the characteristics of exact scientific truth as distinguished from opinion.

Exercises in style should be given at this stage on the model of the historians

and

Caesar,

Curtius, Nepos,

The study of Greek is to be carried on only who desire to prosecute that language

Justin.

by those specially

Isocrates,

these

and

should read Greek orators, such as

also the

Moralia of Plutarch.

The

VI. The Political Class.

pictures on the class

wall should represent the significance of order

nection

;

e.g.

there should be pictures of the

and con-

human body

wanting certain limbs, others having a superabundance of limbs, and one complete and well-formed. In religion the

The

full text

of Scripture will be studied.

class-book (the third

will treat

human

book of Universal Wisdom)

society.

Besides the applications of Arithmetic (ex arithmeticis

The Pansophic Logistica

?),

applications of

211

School.

Geometry

to Architecture,

the theory of the planets, and the doctrine of eclipses, will

be taught

world

compendiums of the geography of the

will also

be made.

For the sake of will

Horace,

style, Sallust

The

be read.

and Cicero,

pupils will

and

Virgil

now

discuss

questions in Latin prescribed beforehand, and be en-

couraged to use greater freedom in their Latin style. Verse-making yields no fruit worthy of the labour, but should not be prohibited in the case of those who have a disposition that way.

Those desirous of continuing their Greek should read Thucydides and the poets.

studies

VII. The Theological Class. Scriptural emblems, shadowing forth the mysteries of Theology, should adorn three sides of the class-room, and one should be

devoted to tables of the Hebrew Grammar and to select

Hebrew

The

sayings.

class-book, the concluding Palace of

Wisdom,

should explain the intercourse of souls with God, etc. Mathematics should consist of a study of sacred architecture ; e.g. the construction of the Mosaic Tabernacle, the

Temple of Solomon,

be universal history

Providence. subjects

;

history,

the

Church

The

etc.

with

special

and

In the treatise

the

reference

order

the

Divine

exercises in style should be in sacred

and, in addition

Hebrew should be

history taught should

these

various

studies,

acquired.

Latinae linguae studio petfecte

insti-

The Educational System.

212 iuendo

Dissertatio

Didactica,

published

1637,

assumes that the upper classes read selections from classical authors, which he proposes to arrange in four books

Epistolary, Historical, Oratorical,

and that the

Poetical,

relative Lexicon, either in Latin-vernacular

or vernacular-Latin, should be

idioms,

and

varieties

a Lexicon of phrases,

of expression

under the

e.g.

;

word Dubito would come the following words and pressions, Haereo,

hesito.

sum quid agam.

Incertum mihi

and so

ex-

Fluctuo, Incertus

Ambigo. est.

In ancipiti sum

;

forth.

Looking Comenius's

the

latest

exercises

given above, I think

prescribed

style

we must assume

that the selec-

were to be read along with the special class-book of the year ; if not by all, at least by all who could overtake them and this, notwithtions

from

edition of his educational views, as

classical authors

standing the fact that extracts from classical authors

would doubtless be introduced into the class-books,

so far as relevant to their subject-matter.

Thus

in the space of seven years, beginning at twelve of age, the human being will be formed to a whole and complete humanity in respect of Things,

years

Tongues, Morality, and Piety; he of

all things,

and

fortified with the

may now be divine,

will

be able to judge

no important thing

to err

;

and,

elements of universal knowledge, he

allowed to study

all

and enter on the business of

books,

human and

life.

1 Palatium Epistolicum, with a hundred epistles Historicum, P. Oratorium, P. Poeticum,

;

Palatium

CONCLUSION. As Comenius

increased

years

the

religious

element in his educational theories assumed more and

more prominence. ing principles.

But he never

The

object of

lost sight of his lead all

education was to

be sons of God, but the way to this was through knowledge, and knowledge was through method. His disposition to see fanciful parallels in train children to

nature increased, and Scripture more and more seemed to

him

was

to confirm his teachings.

manifested in his final

between

1654-57, especially in

and

Amsterdam educational

his final

entitled,

The Idea of Didactic out of the Eternal Arcana.

The Son can do

seeth the Father do

nothing of himself, save what he ;

for

what things soever he doeth,

these also doeth the Son likewise. the Son,

From '

mystical tendency

works written

utterance written in Amsterdam,

and sheweth him

all things.'

The Father -John

loveth

v. 19.

this flow the following propositions (since the

invisible things of

God from

the creation of the world

are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,' 1.

Rom.

20)

That schools ought

to be a kind of imitation of

heaven. 2.

That

the

intercourse

teachers

ought to be like that of fathers with sons.

with taught

The Educational System.

214 3.

That sons are able

know and do

nothing of

themselves.

Whatever therefore they ought to know or to do all should be first shown (both here and for eternity), 4.

to them.

That the said showing beforehand devolves on fathers, that is, on teachers. 5.

6. And this, not by presenting examples alien to the matter in hand, but proper to it, so that things that have to be done may be taught by doing them. 7.

That the imitation of

paternal 8.

things be exacted in a

spirit.

And

that

things in like

all

be exacted so that sons may do

manner

the other

all

as the example.

hand the

eternal idea

departed from

whenever 1.

All things are done in any sort of fashion, regard

being had to no type, 2.

The

much

less the best.

intercourse of teachers with pupils

else save that of hirelings with

nothing

for the sake of

sheep

the fat and the wool. 3.

The

pupils are

left to

themselves, and are required

do what they have not yet been taught to do, as if they were able of themselves to know what a teacher to

knows. 4. life

And

are not taught all things necessary for this

and the

And

next, but only scraps.

the teacher does not teach

all

things himself,

but commits them to another, or presents to the pupil a dumb teacher a book. 6.

And what he

teaches

he does

not

teach

Conclusion.

215

examples, but by precepts, and, when the pupil does not

do what he 7.

Or,

ordered, by blows.

when he

does give examples, gives

alien to the matter in hand,

what are

and does not show how

they are to be rightly imitated. 8.

Or,

imitation of

he show examples, does not

them by much and constant

on the

insist

practice.

And

does not exact that imitation in such a way as to make of every pupil a master capable of doing things 9.

equal to what has been pointed out to him as models. This is the sum of all that I wish to have done by those

who undertake

no more

schools and Christ, I

say.

God.

have

with

gentlemen, your dedicated to

you,

the youth of your city 1

all

commend

to your favour

to rear little sons of

And

;

to the grace of

signing

these

God, and myself last utterances on

Education on the day of the conversion of Paul, on which may the hearts of us all turn to the Lord saying, as Saul said,

Lord, what wilt thou have

And now, O

Jesus

Christ,

Eternal Wisdom,

rejoicest in the habitable parts of the earth,

who

and whose

is among the sons of men, who wast well pleased, when dwelling with us in the flesh, to converse with little ones and to think them worthy of Thy embraces

delight

as being heirs of the

Thy favour now Thy little ones so of

;

Kingdom of Heaven, count worthy who do not disdain to serve

those that

by means of them Thy Blessed

Kingdom, here of Grace, there of Glory, goodly increase, worthy Eternal World. 1

may

receive a

King of the Amen. Amen. Amen.

of Thee,

Amsterdam.

the

BRIEF CRITICAL SURVEY. THE

object of this volume

to present

Comenius

himself to the English reader not Comenius as I may understand him. The latter would have been a comparatively easy task

the task which I have undertaken

;

has been a laborious one.

The

historical position of

Comenius, and his relation to his predecessors, have been brought into view in the Introduction, and his educational aims and labours have been fully set forth in the sketch of his fully

now

life.

and succinctly

The

actual

work he did

set before the reader.

also

have

only to survey critically the leading characteristics

of his system.

The Realism

of the Humanists had failed to produce

the results they had anticipated.

It was in England and Scotland, rather than on the continent of Europe, that the genuine Humanistic spirit was most active in

schools. fell

But not

for long.

Schools and schoolmasters

back under the dominion of words, abstract proand barren logicalities. This was inevitable.

positions,

The preoccupation and

political

strife

of men's

educational revival to sable condition,

minds with theological

caused the true significance of the fall

out of sight.

The

indispen-

moreover, of the continuance of the

methods of Trotzendorf, and Sturm, and Ascham, was a There school of Teachers, and a tradition of Method. was neither the one nor the other.

Critical Survey.

217

Comenius's inspiring motive, like that of all leading was social regeneration. He believed

educationalists,

be accomplished through the school. under the hallucination that by a proper

that this could

lived

arrangement of the subject-matter of instruction, and by a sound method, a certain community of thought and interests

would

would be established among the young, which harmony and political settlement.

result in social

believed that

we Chinese

men

could be manufactured.

deal with,

the

enthusiasts might possibly be realised tion

would be a misfortune.

Had

dream of educational ;

but

its realisa-

have, happily, not

with, but the strong and vigorous full of character and individuality, European races, the loss of which would be the loss of manhood.

Chinese to deal

Variety, inequality,

the true

life

and

strife

seem

be essential to

of the higher races.

Humanism, which had had, apart from this

practically failed in the school,

no attractions

for Comenius, and fact, had the worldly wisdom of Montaigne. He was a leading Protestant theologian, the pastor and bishop still

less

of a small but earnest and devoted sect,

such that he wrote on Education.

The

and

was as

best results of

Humanism could, after all, be only culture, and this not necessarily accompanied by moral earnestness or on the contrary, probably dissociated from these, and leaning rather to scepticism and intelAt the same time, it must be lectual self-indulgence. personal piety

noted that he never

fairly

faced the Humanistic ques-

The Educational System.

he rather gave it the cold shoulder from the first. His whole nature pointed in another direction. When he has to speak of the great instruments of Humanistic tion

;

he exhibits

the ancient classical writers,

education,

great distrust of them,

and

from the school altogether, instruction in the Latin

he does not banish them

it is

simply because the higher is seen to be

and Greek tongues

Even

impossible without them.

in the Universities, as

Pansophic scheme shows, he would have had Plato and Aristotle taught chiefly by means of analyses and his

epitomes.

might be urged

in opposition to this

view

of the anti-Humanism of Comenius, that he contemplated the acquisition of a good style in Latin in the

higher stages of instruction

did

so,

effective

moral and religious truth. of artistic expression had

set

much

store

illustration of the is

to be

but in so far as he

true,

was merely with a practical aim, the more and, if need be, oratorical enforcement of

found

The little

by the graces. absence of

in his school

all

beauties

charm

subtleties

for him,

nor did

The most conspicuous idea of Art in Comenius

drama.

dreariness of that production would

were he not relieved by a feeling of

The

and

The unprofitable make a reader sick its

absurdity.

educational spirit of the Reformers, the convic-

even the humblest

must be taught to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, was inherited by Comenius in its completeness. In this tion that all

way, and in this way only, could the ills of Europe be remedied, and the progress of humanity assured. While, therefore, he sums up the educational aim under the

Critical Survey.

heads of Knowledge, Virtue, and Piety or Godliness, he in truth has mainly in view the last two.

threefold

Knowledge

of value only in so far as

forms the only

sound

basis, in the eyes of a Protestant theologian, of

virtue

and godliness.

have to train

for a

here-

after.

In virtue and godliness Comenius did not propose to teach anything save what the Reformed religion taught.

His characteristic merits tion were these

in this

department of instruc-

Morality and godliness were to be taught from the first. Parents and teachers were to begin to train 1.

at the beginning of the child's conscious 2.

life.

Parents and teachers were to give milk to babes,

and reserve the stronger meat for the adolescent and adult mind. They were to be content to proceed gradually, step 3.

The method

step.

of procedure

was not only to be

adapted to the growing mind, but the

ment was

to be mild,

mode

and the manner of

of enforceit

kind and

patient.

Had Comenius done press

home

nothing more but put forth and deserved our

these truths he would have

gratitude as an educationalist.

But he did more than

this.

related virtue

Knowledge. By knowledge meant knowledge of nature and of man's

godliness

nature.

It is this

and

Comenius relation to

important characteristic of Comenius's

educational system that reveals the direct influence of

Bacon and

his school.

the great Verulam he pays

The Educational System.

220

owed him, but he owed him even

reverence for what he

more than he knew. In this

field

of Knowledge, the leading characteristic

of the educational system of Comenius

his Realism.

have pointed out, 1 in contradiction of the assump-

tions

of the modern

Humanists were

sensationalist

in truth Realists,

the

that

school,

and

may be safely among competent it

said that there can be no question judges as to the Realism which ought to characterise rational is

and sound

as to the field in

which the Real

mind of man, or

the

The

instruction.

all

question rather is

be sought

external nature.

the

former may be called Humanistic-Realism, so the latter may be called Sense or Naturalistic-Realism. Of the

Comenius is the true founder, although his indebtedness to Ratich was great. Mere acquisition of the ordered facts of Nature, and man's relation to

latter,

them, was with him the great aim of

all

purely intellectual instruction.

not the sole aim

And

here there

necessarily entered the governing idea, encyclopasdism, Let all the arts and sciences, he said, or pansophism.

be taught fully at It is

in their elements in all schools,

and more

each successive stage of the pupil's progress.

by knowledge

that

are

what we

necessary conclusion from this must be,

be taught to

be ordered

and the

let all things

all.'

It is at this point that

Comenius.

are, '

The mind facts, will 1

many

will part

company

stored with facts, even

not necessarily be See Introduction.

much

with

these

raised in

221

Critical Survey.

The

the scale of humanity as an Intelligence.

natural

may be

simply overweighted by the process, and the natural channels of spontaneous Reason choked.

powers

In education, while our main business is to promote the growth of moral purpose and of a strong sense of duty, we have to support these by the discipline of intelligence, and by training to power of work rather

than by information.

who

the other hand, only those

are ignorant of the history

and the recognised Realism in the

results of education will wholly abjure

Comenian sense; but it has to be assigned its own place, and nothing more than this, in the education of a human being. The sum of the matter seems to be

this,

that while a

be assigned to

due place

in all education is to

sense-realistic studies, especially in the

earlier years of family

and school

life,

the Humanistic

agencies must always remain the most potent making of a man.

Comenius and

his followers, again,

ledge with wisdom. to be banished

affirms that

in the

confound know'

all

authors are

from school except those that give a

knowledge of useful things.' Wisdom is certainly not to be opposed to knowledge, but it depends more on a man's power of discrimination, combination, and imagination, than on the extent of his mental store of

Were

facts.

and

all

not so, our whole secondary education,

the purely disciplinal part of our University

instruction,

would be very

far astray.

If the ancient

tongues are to be learned simply with a view to the sum of knowledge they contain, it would be absurd to

222

The Educational System.

waste the time of our youth over them. It would be on our Universities the duty of furnishing guaranteed translations for the use of the public. better to impose

shall not, however, involve ourselves in controversy

here, as our object

merely to point out, generally,

and weak points of our author.

the strong in

importance to pansophy or encyclopaedism, and closely connected with it, is the principle that a knowledge of words and of things should go hand in hand.

Words

are to be

interpreted, will,

learned

through things.

and under due

we presume, be now

limitations,

Properly

this

generally accepted.

under due limitations, because

principle

say,

manifest that the

converse proposition, that things are learned through words,' is easily capable of proof, and is indeed, in our opinion, the stronghold of Humanistic teaching in

its

earlier or school stages.

It is in the

department of Method, however, that we

recognise the chief contribution of

The mere attempt

Comenius

to educa-

systematise was a great advance. In seeking, however, for foundations on which to erect a coherent system, he had to content himself tion.

with

first

principles

which were vague and unscientific. in its infancy, and Comenius

Modern Psychology was had

little

Aristotle, his guide.

more than the generalisations of Plato and and those not

strictly investigated

In training to

various moralities

virtue,

by him,

for

moral truth and the

were assumed as

full-blown in the consciousness of man.

they emerged

In training to

Critical Survey.

223

dogma was ready to his hand. In the department of knowledge, that is to say, know-

godliness, again, Christian

ledge of the outer world,

on the

Comenius

rested his

method

maxim, Nihil est in intdlectu quod non in scnsu. This maxim he enriched with prius fuerit the Baconian induction, comprehended by him howscholastic

ever only in a general way.

was

chiefly,

however,

harmony of physical and mental processes

the imagined

that yielded his method.

believed that the pro-

growth of external things had a close

cesses of the

resemblance to the growth of mind. Had he lived in these days he would doubtless have endeavoured to

work out the

details of his

logical basis;

had

but in the then state of psychology he

The

to find another thread through the labyrinth.

mode

of demonstration which he adopted was thus, as

he himself called ever

method on a purely psycho-

it,

the growth of nature

exists

if it

between

and of mind, there can be no

doubt that the observation of the former suggesting,

What-

the Syncretic or Analogical.

may be said of the harmony that

does not furnish,

many

capable of

of the rules of

educational method.

From

the simple to the complex, from the particular

to the general, the concrete before the abstract,

and even by

insensible degrees,

and

all,

these

step by step, But were among his leading principles of method. his of all was most derived the principles important

maxim quoted above. As all is thing to be known be itself presented

from the scholastic

from sense,

let

to the senses,

the

and

let

every sense be engaged in the

The Educational System.

224

perception of

When

it.

impossible, from the nature

it is

of the case, to present the object picture of

before the pupil.

of these few principles, even

itself,

place a vivid

The mere enumeration we drop out of view all

method and school-management, will satisfy any man familiar with all the more recent treatises on Education, that Comenius, even his other contributions to

be regarded

after giving his precursors their due, is to

modern Method, and that he and all of the same school.

as the true founder of

anticipates Pestalozzi

When we come truth,

to pay

approval at

least.

working out his

unless

we recognise

its

faults with

first

the

homage

linguistic

own attempt

impossible,

accept his encyclopaedism.

The

very

which he charged the school practices of

the time are simply repeated by himself in a

The

will

of theoretical

admire, however, his

method

general

and the teachers of Europe and America

now be prepared at

method

to consider Comenius's

specially applied to language,

new

form.

mind is overloaded with a mass of words the names and qualities of everything in heaven, on boy's

the earth, and under the

earth.

was impossible

that all these things, or even pictures

of them, could be presented to sense, and hence his books must have inflicted a heavy burden on the merely verbal memory of boys. We want children to grow into

knowledge, not to swallow numberless facts made up into boluses. Again, the amount that was to be acquired within a given time was beyond the youthful capacity. Any teacher will satisfy himself of this who

Critical Survey.

225

simply count the words and sentences in the Orbis, and then try to distribute these over the school-time allowed by Comenius. Like all

will

fanua and

Comenius was over-sanguine.

reformers,

do not

command

over the Latin tongue as a vehicle of expression was the prime necessity of the time for all who meant to devote themselves to overlook the fact that

professions

and

learning,

and

this justification for introducing

that

Comenius had

a mass of vocables

now

But even

wholly useless to the student of Latin.

for

own

time, Comenius, under the influence of his encyclopaedic passion, overdid his task. His real merits

his

in language-teaching lie in the introduction of the prin-

ciple of graduated reading-books, in the simplification

of Latin grammar, in his founding instruction in foreign

tongues on the vernacular, and

method

in instruction.

his

insisting

But these were great merits,

too soon forgotten by the dull race of schoolmasters, if, indeed, they were ever fully recognised by them till quite recent times.

Comenius's views as to the inner organisation of a school were original, and have proved themFinally,

selves in all essential respects correct.

The same may be

said of his

sation of a State-system tially,

scheme

for the organi-

a scheme which

mutatis mutandis, at this

substan-

moment embodied

the highly-developed system of Germany.

When we and

fully

consider, then, that

Comenius

developed educational method,

duced important reforms

first

formally

that he intro-

into the teaching of languages,

The Educational System.

226

he introduced into schools the study of Nature, that he advocated with intelligence, and not on purely that

sentimental grounds, a milder discipline, we are justified him a high, if not the highest, place

in assigning to

among modern and

studying him.

prolixity, their repetitions,

have

their defects of style,

men

The voluminous-

educational writers.

ness of his treatises, their

all

The substance

operated to prevent of all he has written

has been, I believe, faithfully given by me, but it has not been possible to transfer to these pages the fervour, the glow, and the pious aspirations of the good old Bishop. If

any are disposed

encyclopaedic

to regard with impatience the

proposals

them consider

of Comenius,

would have

that two great Englishmen, Milton

and

Locke, shared substantially the same views. And when we compare a youth who has been instructed merely in the bare, bald facts of the outer world, and his relation to them, with a youth rightly

who

conclude that there

has been

left to himself,

a certain educational power

And

even in mere information.

result, in respect of intelligence

and

yet

the

summed-up

character, in the case

of youths of encyclopaedic and superficial acquisitions

not satisfactory. ing

the contrary,

when compared with

teacher and taught.

it is

sadly disappoint-

the labour expended by both the other hand,

certainly

supreme educational result that is to say, wisdom, virtue, and capacity for affairs to have been

find

the

attained (as nearly as

human

imperfection admits of) by

Critical Survey. a

totally different process.

not so plain as at

find that secret way,

are thus forced to revise

The way whereby

our theories.

cost what

first

227

nature makes a

mind

If educators could

appears.

would doubtless be

their

duty to

It will

might. probably however, be found that while there can be only one true general method in education, the maximum of mental capacity is it,

attainable

for

studies,

different individuals

the

simple

reason

by means of

different

food which

the

that

can be assimilated by one cannot be assimilated by another. The conclusion to be drawn from this (and I think

a very important one in

all

education)

that

school-curriculum should be so arranged as to use up

a pupil's brain energy.

Time should be

indulgence of idiosyncracies even

left for

all

the

these run in the

and day-dreaming. In seeking to ascertain our duty as Educators,

direction of apparent idleness

let

not wilfully exaggerate differences in modes of procedure

where there

cationalists, of

essential

community of aim.

whatsoever school,

All edu-

who have endeavoured

on the subject on which they write, produce wise, virtuous, religious and capable

seriously to think desire to

men

with bodies fitted to be an apt vehicle of

Culture,'

but

true, is the deity

difficult to

have settled

we can

this,

say what culture

we may

leave

Spirit.

which some worship, is,

and

until

out of account.

This

safely affirm, that self culture is possible only

Were any man

the culture of that which

not

self.

propose himself to himself as the object of his self-discipline, he would emerge from the educational laboratory

The Educational System.

228

a narrow-souled, insufferable prig. Culture from another point of view leads only to that most detestable of all civilized

products then,

culture,

an "elegant mind."

and confine ourselves

and

ground of wisdom, virtue

religion,

Let us drop

common

the

and

if it

be by

any means possible among us northern nations, let us add the grace of courtesy which the Greeks called All agree so

eu/cooyua.

far,

these three hundred years,

and the question

and

still

unsettled,

at issue

by what

processes can this supreme end be best attained?

moral instruction and training, all alike answer ; but by what further instruments ? By the study of man and of

human

life

in language

and thought, as these are embodied for us and literature, or by the study of external

it ? We do not propose here to attempt to answer the question, but in the debate between Humanists and Sense-Realists there is a

nature and our relations to

For all thinkers will, I think, growing consensus visible. now admit that up to the age of puberty at least, subjects which appeal to the senses and connect a boy with external nature ought to take precedence of

all

others

except the vernacular language and arithmetic, and that after that

severe

age the instruction should be more formal and

and based

Mathematics.

principally

Thus

far,

chology and physiology grounds.

The same

on Language, Literature and

the incontestable facts of psy-

settle the

wordy war on

scientific

facts point to the conclusion that

even encyclopaedism, in a restricted sense, has at least in the earlier stages of education.

its

place,

NOTE ON

40.

Hartlib also was the author of a scheme for an Agri" Propositions for the College contained in his erecting of a College of Husbandry learning" 1651, and it was to him that Sir W. Petty wrote in 1647 a letter cultural

containing a scheme for a great technical College where "all apprentices might learn the theory of their trades before they are *

bound

Quoted by

to a

Master" &c.*

Mr Browning

in his

Educational Theories.

INDEX. ACADEMIA, Aims and

see University. motives, Comenius's

'Arts,'

defence of his own, 62.

Comenius,

Gymnasium, 149. Ascham, his influence on grammar

23.

Amsterdam,

Grammar

of, 160.

schools, 9

Comenius

of,

city

expresses his gratitude

Associated

to, 63.

principle

Comenius's

Atrium Lingua

treatise

Latince,

Gom-

enius's, 48.

Atrium, the third Latin Textas a

method of

ascer-

book, 189-191. Attention, means of sustaining, in

taining truth, 56 with synthesis, part of a perfect discipline in ;

119

how employed

;

pupils, 100.

Auctarium, sequel to the bulum, 55, 180.

study of Latin, 171. Andreae, Valentinus, on teaching of Latin, 29, 30. Apprentices, pupils considered as, St.

BACON, Lord,

Thomas, and the

Universities, lation of,

influence

;

the Mother School, 141.

his

;

Instauratio

Magna on Comenius, idea of a i

;

pression

Latin trans-

merly in use, 10 quoted on abuse of self-consistency, 56 to be taught by an epitome, 218. Arithmetic, how to be taught in

;

for-

;

the

from the Arabic

Advancement

his

his Organon, of Learning, his study of Nature, ii the father of Realism, 13 im-

Jesuit reaction, 10. Arabic, a necessary language for physicians, 120. his

Vesti-

Augustine quoted, 58.

to an art, 116.

Aristotle,

of Method,

on, 39.

cretism.

Aquinas,

words,

Astronomy,

;

art,

critic

178.

;

as a

;

29.

Analogy, Comenius's use of, in from the exposition, 57, 105 carpenter's trade, 117; sometimes fanciful use of, throughout the Great Didactic, 81 see SynAnalysis,

taught in

the

Alsted, Professor, early teacher of

Alvarus, Latin

what Comenius means by

the term, 116. the seven liberal,

;

his

universal college,' 43 ; his general influence on Comenius, 71, 219. in his Dictionary,

Bayle,

apprehends

Comenius's

mischar-

acter, 63.

Bodinus, his work ius,

;

stirs up Comenon teaching of Latin, 29.

Index. Bohemian Brethren,

see

Moravian,

Madame,

Moravian

and

in heart

soul,

;

barely appreciated Humanism, 22 at .College of Herborn in

19.

Bourignon, Budaeus, 3.

231

49.

;

Nassau,

attracted

;

Building, love of, to be fostered in children, 143. Buildings, scale of school, 200.

Ratich's scheme, 24 appointed to school at Prerau (1614) 24 complains of bad method of

CALVIN,

teaching Latin, 25 simplifies the Latin Grammar, 25 pub-

;

Thomas,

Campanella,

in-

his

fluence on Comenius, 37. Challenges, from one boy to another, 108.

Chaucer,

taught in Mother School, 141. Church, the, follows, and does not lead, in scientific, philoso-

and

religious progress,

12.

mediaeval its attitude tothe humanistic move;

wards ment,

Church

movement, 4 they ;

universal

147.

;

207.

Gram-

his influence over

schools, 9.

Collegium Didacticum projected, 41.

Colnmella,

;

and only child, rules of method for

wife

writes

determines Stadius, 26 to devote his life to the service

John

;

of the young, 27 takes refuge from fresh troubles in Poland, ;

;

publishes his Seminary of

Tongues and all Sciences, 34 his Vestibulum in 1633, 35 chosen Bishop of the Scattered

;

Brethren,

studied

visits

;

for

Economics, 171. Comenius (Komenski), John Amos, a his birth and family, 19 ;

Sclav by origin and language, 20 early education, 21 begins Latin in his sixteenth year, 21 ;

;

London, his

life's

his

;

second marriage, 63 his family, 63 death, 64 'an Apostle ad boys and gentes minutulas his merit in relating girls, 65 virtue to knowledge, 219. Comna, or Comnia, possible birthplace of Comenius, 19. Arts Composition, one of the with Comenius, 116. ;

;

Class-room, walls of, to be painted with Latin declensions, etc.

;

Labyrinth of the loses his

Class-books, in vernacular school,

mar

loses 25 26; writes World, 26

marriage,

and MSS.,

summing up of aim and character,

instruction,

Colet,

his

;

Reformers, their attitude

to humanistic

aim

;

library

Chastisement, Corporal, 166. Chronology, rudiments of, to be

phical,

ordained to prcecepta in 1616 the church of Fulneck, 1618 ; 25

i, 3.

GrammaticcB facilioris

lishes

;

Conatuumpansophicorum,e.\K.., 41. for, in teach-

Continuity, necessity ing. 97-

Conversation, use

of,

in learning

Latin, 161. Czech, or Bohemian,

language spoken by Comenius, 20 his ;

Index.

232 Great Didactic

first

written

two

Education,

in,

in history of, 4

SI-

parallel streams as understood by

;

and Reformers,

the Humanists

DAY'S WORK,

Decuriones, teaching by means of, 99, 106 duty of, in model

;

school, 202. Detail, too

much, condemned, first,

Diagrams and

;

our universities, 10

of,

;

of,

Gymnasium,

form

in, led to

;

decline

Reformation, study of method gave their

superiority to

beginnings

in the

Dialogue

importance of a department

as part of the philosophical

of schools after

use

the Jesuits, 11 lead, the ;

and does not

follows,

taught in the Mother School, 142

by the

want of method

129, 143.

pictures,

;

faculty, in

112.

114, 144. Dialectic,

;

of,

Devotion, to be expressed bodily

from the

Jesuits, 7, 8 ; difficulty inherent in every system,

limit of, 202.

course of science,

and

politics, 12,

philosophy,

obligations to the Sense-realists of first half

149.

school-books

;

of seventeenth century for the scientific foundations of method-

advocated, 109. Dictation, 107.

be put into hands of a beginnner, 124 see

Dictionaries, not to

ism, 14.

Encyclopasdism of Comenius,

;

Lexicons.

74,

183-220.

Didactica, see Magna Didactica. Diet, of young children, should be

Endter, Michael, his share in the production of the Orbis Pictus,

very simple, 144. Differentiation, uses of, in teach-

193-

Epitomes, Comenius would teach Plato and Aristotle by, 218.

ing, 96, 115. Discipline, both verbal reproof and

Erasmus,

on the bad method

chastisement are, 128, 131-134 severe, to be exercised only in

of teaching Latin, 24, 29. Europe, school-systems of modern,

offences against morals, 132, 143. public, usefulness

a tribute to Comenius's judgment, 197.

;

Disputations,

Evenius, Sigmund, correspondent of Comenius, 30,

of, 152.

Docem, correspondent of Com-

Excerpts, use

enius, 30, n.

Domavius, on waste of time

learning Latin, 24.

Dramatic representations, use

study of Latin,

172. |

of,

of, in

Exercises in Style, not to be that only, 101.

examination of written, 107,

194. 195108.

the

ECONOMICS, beginnings of, may be taught in the Mother School, 142 treated in a text-book, 183.

known

Editions of books, same, to be used

FAMILIAR

first,

of tiros to be in a

subject, 118.

;

throughout, 94, 100, 103, 109.

things,

examples to be

taken from, 118, 121.

Index. Family, the, treated in a text-book, 183-

Foreign languages, when to begun, 148.

Frey, Caecilius, or teaching of Latin, 29, send footnote, 161. Frisch, on waste of time in learn-

233

Grammars, overloading

Sturm, Colet, and Ascham, not permanent causes of this, 9. Greek, knowledge of, exposed a ;

man

to suspicion of heresy, 4

moderate

ing Latin, 24.

of, 117.

Grammar Schools, improvements made in, under Melanchthon,

knowledge

;

in-

of,

cluded in Jesuits' course, 7 a necessary language for theologians and physicians, 120 may be learned in one year, ;

GAMES, 183

;

treated in a text-book, all school exercises might

be turned into, 195. Geer, Gerard de, 65. Laurence de, Comenius vited by, to his home, 55.

Ludovic

;

121 in-

make Amsterdam

;

text-book

of. 195.

Gregory Nazianzen,

Comenius's

favourite quotations from, 31.

Gymnasium, should be formed his

de,

with Comenius,

friendship

43-48

death

;

or Latin every province, 138 School, the Idea of, 148-151. ;

of, S3-

Geography, beginnings

to be

of,

taught in the Mother School,

HABRECHT, ISAAC, 32, 163. Hartlib, Samuel, correspondent of Comenius,

141.

Geometry, rudiments taught in

of,

Mother School,

German Empire,

Diet

of,

141.

receives

39, 46.

Health, bodily, of children, should be a prime object with the

mother, even before birth, 143. classics, Comenius's attitude towards, 218.

Ratich's memorial, 15. Gesture, as a discipline, 202.

Heathen

Giessen, university of, favourable to Ratich's pretensions, 17.

Hebrew, a necessary language

Goals,

knowledge should lead

Helvicus, on teaching of Latin,

advantage

fixed,

teaching, 103.

God,

all

for

theologians, 120 may be learned in half a year, 121 ; text-book of, 196.

to, 72, 73.

29.

Graduation, University, 152.

Grammar, how

;

History,

be taught, 117 rudiments of, to be taught in the Mother School, 142 to be to

;

how

Mother taught

be taught in the to be 141

School, in

;

every class of the

Gymnasium,

150.

taught from the material side,

Holidays, 207.

158 ought to be taught in the Vernacular School, 159 Latin, ofAlvarus, 160 an instrument

Honours, university, 152. Horace quoted, 114. Hours, number of, to be spent in

;

of torture, 161

much

;

Greek, only so

to be taught as from Latin, 122.

different

vernacular school, 147.

Human vision

knowledge, aims at reand arrangement of, 71.

Index.

234 Humanism,

demerits

gained

theological,

among the Reformed Churches, 6 Humanism of the mere name, 8. Humanistic movement, its repre-

Humanists,

;

enius, 30, n.

theologiof aim, 5, educational programme of

KEMPIS, a, quoted, 63. Knowledge, confounded with dom by Comenius and

and the Hum-

anists carried out in Scotland

alone, 9

;

Com-

Jonston, correspondent of

and

literary

the Reformation

;

languages, 163.

cal, their difference

;

wards Aristotelianism, 10. Humanistic revival and Theological revival contrasted,

evangelical pastors proscribed, their method of teaching 26

attitude to-

its

system,

;

sentatives in earlier half of six;

their

;

Jesuits not a

teenth century, 3

advantages arising from their making a study of Method, their schools praised by Bacon, under their instigation the ii

the day

wishis

followers, 221.

comparative failure of

Komenski,

see

Comenius.

their Realism, 216.

Huss,

Czech

;

what he did

LABYRINTHS, schools compared

for the

dialect, 20.

ILLUSTRATIONS on

to,

their

influ-

distracting

ences, 58. Language, the whole of a language not to be learned, 120.

walls, use of,

207. Illustris Scholce Patakince Idea,

Languages, to be learnt separorder in which to be ately, 121 modern, can be learned, 121 learned in a year for each, 121 to be learned by practice rather than precept, 122 different

50-

;

use

Imitation,

of,

study of

;

Latin, 172.

;

Induction, knowledge by sum of Bacon's teaching,

the

;

stages in learning, 123 ; not to be learned from grammars, 85

Infant (or Mother) School should

be formed in every house, 138 the idea

of,

;

method as applied

140-142.

Isocrates quoted, 90.

to,

languages

necessary

120-124 in

their

order, 120.

JANUA LINGUARUM,

Latin literature,

Bateus's, 32;

Comenius's remarks on, 47.

Janua Linguae Latinae 181-184

of the Jesuits, 7

reserata,

a Text-book, second

edition of, 184-189 to be through ten times, 187. ;

cial function,

;

waste of time

in learning, 24 nothing but, to be spoken in the school at Patak, ;

gone

50,

favourable to

Jena, university of, Ratich's scheme, 24. Jesuits, order of, education

Latin, familiarity with, as a common language, the school-aim

33, 34,

;

learning,

make compendium for one of the three chief

objects of his school reform, 52 tedium and labour of learning,

;

its

spe-

merits and

as at present taught, 80

;

dis-

Index. as a

medium

235

for

Ludus

a necessary teaching Latin, 91 language, 120 may be learned

198.

advantage

of,

;

two

121

years,

;

supersti-

;

tious attachment to, 145 Lubinus on the torture of learn;

156

ing,

learning,

the

;

157

;

vehicle

;

all

Scriptures, 6

of abstract

evil

conversational

method

;

24.

Lux in

learning, 161, 187.

Tenebris, Comenius's work

entitled, 49.

Latin School, see Gymnasium. Comenius defends

Latinity,

Magna

his,

Didactica, 30 first written Czech, 31, 74 general statement of aim, 75 method of education there inculcated, 8298 school management, 98-101 ;

55-

Latino-latin Lexicon, Comenius's,

Si-

Latium '

his services to the

on the language, 20 waste of time in learning Latin,

;

German

teaching of, 158 grammar, should not be written in Latin, 159

Redivivum,

Roman

;

see

;

the application

Cities.'

Lessons, specimen of Comenius's, its

date,

;

characteristics, 2-5, 20.

method

practice, 102-113.

Management,

185-186. Letters, revival of,

Luther, a Humanist, 3 his impassioned appeals in behalf of popular education, 5 first place in all schools claimed for the

;

the school

Literarius,

school, 98-101.

Marriage, treated in a text-book, 183.

Lexicons, full, condemned, 113 etymological, preferred to a

Masson, Professor, quoted, 39. Mechanics, rudiments of, to be

Dictionary for a young pupil,

taught in the Mother School,

;

124

;

of phrases, synonyms, 124.

walking,

Library,

every capable

become a, Library and MSS., pupil to

;

his universal ac-

tivity in behalf of education

6p.

loss

of,

Lesna, 54.

him the

trifles,

162.

earns of Praeceptor Gerholds Christian teach-

title

maniae, 5

on grammatical

Lipsius,

141.

Melanchthon, 3

;

ing to be the main end of the school, 6 his influence ongram;

Literatures of Greece

and Rome,

the almost exclusive channels of culture with the literary

Human-

mar

his attitude toschools, 9 wards Aristotelianism in the

Logic, included in Jesuits' course, one of the 'Arts,' 116. 7, 109 ;

Lubinus, quoted,

of Rostock, teaching of

Professor, 23,

advocates Latin, 29, 156 school-books with pictures, 162. ;

Ludus, Schola,

194.

on teaching of advocates instruction

Universities, 10

Latin, 29

ists, 5.

;

in grammar, 161. Memory, to be fatigued as

as possible, 92

little

tasks of, 107 how to be used, 167 ; weekly contests in, 205. ;

;

Mencel, Abraham, correspondent of Comenius, 30, n.

Index.

236 Method,- the 25 ii

secret of education,

]

the Jesuits' appreciation of, importance of, in relation

;

the teaching of Latin, 28 differthread of Ariadne, 58 ence of Comenius's method from to

19.

;

More, Sir Thomas, 3. Moser, Martin, correspondent of Comenius, 30, n. Mulcaster, as a critic of Method,

;

the truly inductive, 72 Luther recognises the necessity for, 79 in Education, three great divisions in, (i) Certo, 84-88, (2) ;

;

Facile, 88-94, (3) Solide, 94-98 ; application of, to practice, 102113; applied in detail to the sciences, 113-116; to the arts, 116-119 ; to languages, 120-124

;

to morality, 124-128

;

language, 224.

Comenius's chief contribu-

;

213.

Novissimas,

Synopsis

Realism, Comenius the true founder of, 229. Nature, movement towards the represented by Bacon, of the poets toLudovicus Vives on wards, 12

study ii

tion to education, 222-224.

three,

and expounding

ascertaining

;

described, 156, 157. Milton, his estimate of University teaching in his own day, 10

;

Samuel Hartlib,

Mochinger, Comenius,

correspondent 30,

Comenius's view

;

of. 37of, in each boy to be encouraged, 112. Neglect, uses of a wise, 112.

Neighbouring nations, languages of,

New

39.

necessary, 120. in

Testament,

Greek, 210.

Niclassius, correspondent of Com-

im-

Notation, musical, to be taught,

enius, 30, n.

languages, more portant than Latin, 145.

Modern

Montaigne,

of,

Nature, bent

truth, 56.

Methodus, Novissima Linguarum,

his friend

of,

attitude

;

study

55-

Methods,

how may be

of,

taught in the Mother School, in the Gymnasium, 149 142 teaching of, 205. Mystical leanings, Comenius's, 49,

NATURALISTIC

Comenius's, as applied to

Methodi,

29.

Music, elements

to piety,

128-131.

Morals (and religion), the final aim, of all Comenius's teaching, 60. Moravian (or Bohemian) Brethren,

205.

12, 161.

OBSTACLES and

method as applied to, 124 all sciences and arts only preparatory to, 124 foundations of, taught in the Mother School,

Optics, beginnings of, taught in the Mother School, 141.

142.

Orbis Pictus, 50

Morality, ;

;

Morals and manners, introduction of higher tone of, one of three

their

remedies,

102-105.

tion of

191

;

chief objects of school-reform,

193

;

52-

;

fullest applica-

Comenius's principles,

use of illustrations

in, 192,