The education or bringinge vp of children, translated oute of Plutarche by syr Thomas Eliot knyght

¶The good or yll that hapneth by norises and tutours. Cap. iii. (Book 3)

AS me semeth it behoueth that the moders shulde brynge vp their owne chyldren, and do gyue vnto them souke at theyr owne brestes. For with more naturall affectiō and bu••y diligēce they noriss••h them, than doth other norses, as they, which most inwardly, & (as it is communly sayde) from the fyngers endes loue theyr chyldren. Nourses hired haue but a feyned beneuolence, louynge the chyldren for theyr rewarde onely.

••ore ouer that the moders them selfe ought to norishe them, which they brynge furth, nature d••clareth sufficiētly. For to that entent she hath gyuen to euery creature, that is of female kynde, norishement of mylke. Also there was in hym a high and wyse prouidēce, whiche gaue vnto wo¦men two pappes: that if hit happened any to brynge forthe twynnes, she shulde haue double fountaynes to noryshe them: whiche was done for great consideration, that therby loue and be∣neuolence may be noris••hed & encreased betwene them and theyr children. For familiar company in liuynge and fedynge is an encreace of loue and amitye. Therfore it is to be obserued principally that moders (as I haue before rehersed) do brīg vp their owne childrē & giue them souke of their propre brestes, or if they can not for some disease or manyfest impediment that they may happen to haue: Or if they lyste not, for that they wolde haue plenty of children, than wolde I that they

shulde take honeste and conuenient nources, and not brothels and vagaboundes, but suche as he instruct in the maners of theyr propre realme or countrey. For in lyke wise as the membres of in∣fantes newly borne, muste be formed and ordred that they become not croked: so the maners of them at theyr begynnynge / muste be aptly and properly framed. For that very yonge age is teeē∣der and facile to be wrought: & lernynge is beste instylled and brought in wittes, whiles they be softe and delycate. Also thynges beynge longe harde, vnneth be mollified: therfore lernynge in childrens wittes is soonest impressed. wherfore Plato, whiche is called the deuine philosopher, discretely exhorteth nources, that they committe not to children tryfelynge and dishonest fables, lest at the begynnynge they infecte theyr wyttes with foly, and vnthrifty maners. Therfore the poet Phoci••ides in this wyse counsayleth:

Infourme thy childe in yonge and tender age. To gentyll maners the very tyght passage.

Also hit ought not to be forgotten, that you pro∣uide suche parsones to accompany or attende v∣pon your children, as be all redy instructe in ver∣tuous maners, and can perfectly and truely speke and pronounce your countrey language / lest if they be intached with barbarous speche and de∣pryued maners, your children shulde enbrace of them some vicious disposicion. For not without reason this prouerbe is vsed: He that dwelleth by a crepyll, shall lerne to halte. But after your

chyldren be comen to yeres, whan they shuld be cōmytted to Tutours, than for the remenaunt of theyr educacion you muste be circumspecte, that you do not cōmytte the gouernaunce of them to slaues or villaynes, or to men vnstable, false, or deceitfull. For they may well be laught to scorne that at this day, hauynge good and discrete ser∣uauntes, appoynteth some to be theyr hyndes, some shypmen, some to be factours, other to be stewardes of house holde, baylyffes of husban∣drye / surueyours of landes, or receyuours: And if they haue a ribaulde or a riottous seruaunte / vnprofitable to euerye purpose, communly to his gouernaunce they do commytte theyr chyldren. A good and necessarye tutoure ought to be suche as was Phenyx (tutoure of Achilles the moste valiaunt of all the Grekes, whiche were at the siege of Troye) whom Peleus fader of Achilles (as Homere the noble poete wryteth) ordeyned to haue the rule of his sonne, to the entent that (for his wysedome and eloquence) he shulde be as well in speakynge as doynge his instructour and mayster.