The boke named the Gouernour, deuysed by syr Thomas Elyot knight

For what cause at this daye there be in this realme fewe perfecte schole maysters. Capitulo. xv.

LOrde god howe many good and clene wittes of chyldren be nowe adayes perished by ignoraunte schole maysters. Howe lyttell substancial do∣ctrine is apprehēded by the fewenesse of good grammariens? Not with stāding I know that there be some weller∣ned, which haue taught, and also do teche, but god knowethe a fewe, and they with smal effect, hauing therto no comfort: their aptist and most propre scholers, after they be well instructed in spekynge latine, and vnderstandynge some poetes, beinge taken

from theyr schole by theyr parentes, and eyther be brought to the courte, and made lakaies or pages, or elles are bounden prē∣tises, wherby the worshyp that the maister aboue any rewarde, couayteth to haue by the prayse of his scholer, is vtterly drow∣ned. Wherof I haue harde schole maisters very wel lerned, of good right, complaine. But yet (as I sayd) the fewenesse of good grammariens is a great impediment of do∣ctrine. And here I wolde the reders shuld marke, that I note to be fewe good grāma∣riens, and not none. I cal not them grama∣riens, whiche only can teache or make ru∣les, wherby a chylde shall onelye lerne to speake congrue latine, or to make sixe ver∣sis standyng in one fote, wherin perchance shall be neyther sentence nor eloquence. But I name hym a grammarien by the au∣ctorytie of Quintilian, that speakynge la∣tine elegantly, can expounde good autors, expressynge the inuention and dysposition of the mater, theyr style or fourme of elo∣quence, explycatinge the figures, as well of sentences as wordes, leuynge nothing, person or place named by the auctour, vn∣declared, or hyd from his scholers. Wher∣fore Quintilian sayth, It is not inough for hym to haue red poetes, but all kyndes of wryting must also be sought for, not for the

histories only, but also for the propretie of wordes, which cōmunely doo receiue their auctoritie of noble auctours. More ouer, without musike, grammer may not be per∣fecte: for as moche as therin muste be spo∣ken of metres & harmonies, called rythmi in greke. Neither if he haue not the know∣lege of storres, he maye vnderstande poe∣tes, whiche in description of tymes (I o∣mytte other thynges) they traict of the ri∣singe and goinge downe of planettes. Also he may not be ignorant in philosophye, for many places that be almost in euery poete, fetched out of the most subtile parte of na∣turall questions. These be well nyghe the wordes of Quintilian. Than beholde how fewe grammariens, after this description, be in this realme.

¶ Undoutedly there be in this realme ma∣ny wel lerned, which if the name of a schole mayster were not soo moche hadde in con∣tempte, and also if theyr labours with abun¦dante salaries moughte be requited, were ryghte sufficiente and able to induce theyr herers to excellente lernynge: so they be not plucked away grene, and er they be in doctrine sufficiently rooted. But nowe a∣dayes, if to a bachelar or mayster of arte, study of philosophy waxeth tedious, if he haue a spone full of latine, he wyll shewe

forth a hoggesheed, without any lerninge, and offre to teache grammer, and expoune noble wryters: and to be in the roume of a mayster, he wyll for a smalle salarie, sette a false colour of lernynge on propre wyttes, whiche wyll be wasshed awaye with one shoure of rayne. For if the chyldren be ab∣sente from schole, by the space of one mo∣neth, the beste lerned of them, wyll vnneth tell whether FATO, wherby Eneas was broughte in to Itali, were other a manne, a horse, a shyp, or a wylde goose: Al though theyr mayster wyll perchance auaunte him selfe to be a good philosopher.

¶ Some men peraduenture do thinke, that at the begynnynge of lernynge, it forceth not, all thoughe the maysters haue not soo exacte doctryne as I haue reherced, but let them take good hede, what Quintilian saythe, It is so moche the better, to be in∣structed by them that are beste lerned, for as moch as it is dyfficultie to put out of the mynde, that whiche is ones settylled, the double bourden beynge paynefull to the maysters that shal succede, and veryly mo∣che more to vnteache than to teache. Wher¦fore it is writen, that Timothe the noble musitian, demaunded alwaye a greatter re∣warde of them, whom other had taughte, than of them that neuer any thinge lerned.

These be the wordes of Quintilian or like.

¶ Also the commune experiēce teacheth, that no man wyl put his sonne to a botcher to lerne, or he bynde hym prentyse to a tai∣lour. Or if he wil haue him a conning gold∣smyth, wyll bynde hym fyrste prentise to a tynkar. In these thinges poore men be cir∣cumspect, and the nobles and gentyll men, who wolde haue theyr sonnes by excellent lernynge come vnto honour, for sparyng of coste, or for lacke of dyligente serche for a good schole maister, wilfully dystroy theyr chyldren, causynge them to be taught that lernynge, whiche wolde require sixe or se∣uen yeres to be forgoten, by whiche tyme the more parte of that age is spente, wher∣in is the chiefe sharpnesse of wyt, called in latin acumen, and also than approcheth the stubborne age, where the chylde broughte vp in pleasure, dysdayneth correction.

¶ Nowe haue I all declared (as I do sup∣pose) the chiefe impechementes of excel∣lent lernynge, of the reformation I neede not to speake, sens it is apparaunt, that by the contraries, men pursuing ernestly with discrete iugement, and liberalitie, it shulde sone be amended.

Notes

• Fab. Quin¦tilian. li. i.
• Uirgilius Aeneid •• su secūdo.
• Fab Qui. lib. i.