CAUSE OF THEIR SUCCESS.

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they themselves are interested, in any way that occurs to them, with by no means uniform success; so that when two forms are examined with the same examination paper, it is no very uncommon occurrence for the lower to be found superior to the higher. It is, perhaps, to be expected that a course in which uniform method tends to a definite goal would on the whole be more successful than one in which a boy has to accustom himself by turns to half-a-dozen different methods, invented at haphazard by individual masters with different aims in view, if indeed they have any aim at all.

I have said that the object which the Jesuits proposed in their teaching was not the highest object. They did not aim at developing all the faculties of their pupils, but merely the receptive and reproductive faculties. When the young man had acquired a thorough mastery of the Latin language for all purposes, when he was well versed in the theological and philosophical opinions of his preceptors, when he was skillful in dispute, and could make a brilliant display from the resources of a well-stored memory, he had reached the highest point to which the Jesuit sought to lead him. Originality and independence of mind, love of truth for its own sake, the power of reflecting, and of forming correct judgments, were not merely neglected-they were suppressed in the Jesuits' system. But in what they attempted they were eminently successful, and their success went a long way toward securing their popularity.*

*Ranke, speaking of the success of the Jesuit schools, says: "It was found that young persons learned more under them in half a year than with others in two years. Even Protestants called back their children from distant schools, and put them under the care of the Jesuits."-Hist. of Popes, book v., p. 138. Kelly's Trans.

Their popularity was due, moreover, to the means employed, as well as to the result attained. The Jesuit teachers were to lead, not drive their pupils; to make "disciplinam non modo tolerabilem, sed etiam amabilem," [discipline not only endurable but even agreeable]. Sacchini expresses himself very forcibly on this subject. "It is," says he, "the unvarying decision of wise men, whether in ancient or modern times, that the instruction of youth will always be best when it is pleasantest: whence this application of the word ludus, [game]. The tenderness of youth requires of us that we should not overstrain it, its innocence that we should abstain from harshness. That which enters into willing ears the mind as it were runs to welcome, seizes with avidity, carefully stows away and faithfully preserves." The pupils were therefore to be encouraged in every way to take kindly to their learning. With this end in view (and no doubt other objects, also), the masters were carefully to seek the boys' affections. "When pupils love the master," says Sacchini, "they will soon love his teaching. Let him, therefore, show an interest in everything that concerns them and not merely in their studies. Let him rejoice with those that rejoice, and not disdain to weep with those that weep. After the example of the apostle let him become a little one amongst little ones, that he may make them adult in Christ, and Christ adult in them. Let him unite the grave kindness and authority of a father with a mother's tenderness."*

* Unfortunately, the Jesuit's kind manner loses its value from being due not so much to kind feeling as to some ulterior object, or to a rule of the Order. I think it is Jouvency who recommends that when a boy is absent

LEARNING MADE ATTRACTIVE.

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In order that learning might be pleasant to the pupils, it was necessary that they should not be overtasked. To avoid this the master had to study the character and capacity of each boy in his class, and to keep a book with all particulars about him, and marks from one to six indicating proficiency. Thus the master formed an estimate of what should be required, and the amount varied considerably with the pupil, though the quality of the work was always to be good.

Not only was the work not to be excessive, it was never to be of great difficulty. Even the grammar was to be made as easy and attractive as possible. "I think it a mistake," says Sacchini, "to introduce at an early stage the more thorny difficulties of grammar: for when the pupils have become familiar with the easier parts, use will, by degrees, make the more difficult clear to them. His mind expanding and his judgment ripening as he grows older, the pupil will often see for himself that which he could be hardly made to see by others. Moreover, in reading an author, examples of grammatical difficulties will be more easily observed in connection with the context, and will make more impression on the mind, than if they are taught in an abstract form by themselves. Let them, then, be carefully explained whenever they occur."

In collecting these particulars about the Jesuit schools, I have considered not how this or that might be used in attacking or defending the Order, but, simply,

from sickness or other sufficient reason, the master should send daily to inquire after him, because the parents will be pleased by such attention. When the motive of the inquiry is suspected, the parents will be pleased no longer.

B

what would be of most interest to those who are engaged in education.

No other school system has been built up by the united efforts of so many astute intellects; no other system has met with so great success, or attained such wide-spread influence. It deserves, therefore, our careful consideration; and, however little we may approve that system, and wish to imitate it as a whole, it may suggest to us not a few useful reflections on our own practice; may lead us to be clearer in our aims; and to value more highly a well-organized plan of instruction— without which even humble aims will mostly prove unattainable.

ASCHAM AND MONTAIGNE.

MASTERS and scholars who sigh over what seem to them the intricacies and obscurities of the "Head-masters' Primer" may find some consolation in thinking that, after all, matters might have been worse, and that their fate is enviable indeed compared with that of the students of Latin 400 years ago. Did the reader ever open the "Doctrinale" of Alexander de Villa Dei, which was the grammar in general use from the middle of the thirteenth to the end of the fifteenth century? If so, he is aware how great a step toward simplicity was made by our grammatical reformers, Lily, Colet, and Erasmus. Indeed, those whom we now regard as the forgers of our chains were, in their own opinion and that of their contemporaries, the champions of freedom.

I have given elsewhere a remarkable passage from Colet, in which he recommends the leaving of rules and the study of examples in good Latin authors. Wolsey also, in his directions to the masters of Ipswich School (dated 1528), proposes that the boys should be exercised in the eight parts of speech in the first form, and should begin to speak Latin and translate from English into Latin in the second. If the masters think fit, they may also let the pupils read Lily's "Carmen Monitorum," or Cato's "Distichs." From the third upward a regular