iudgement of him, who, they them selues shall confesse, was as
wise as they are, or else they may be iustlie thought to haue
small witte at all: and that is _Socrates_, whose iudgement in
_Plato_ in 7. // _Plato_ is plainlie this in these wordes: which,
de Rep. // bicause they be verie notable, I will recite them
in his owne tong, ouden mathema meta douleias
chre manthanein: oi men gar tou somatos ponoi bia ponoumenoi
cheiron ouden to soma apergazontai; psyche de, biaion ouden
emmonon mathema: in Englishe thus, No learning ought to be
learned with bondage: For bodelie labors, wrought by compul-
sion, hurt not the bodie: but any learning learned by compulsion,
tarieth not long in the mynde: And why? For what soeuer the
mynde doth learne vnwillinglie with feare, the same it doth
quicklie forget without care. And lest proude wittes, that loue
not to be contraryed, but haue lust to wrangle or trifle away
troth, will say, that _Socrates_ meaneth not this of childrens
teaching, but of som other higher learnyng, heare, what
_Socrates_ in the same place doth more plainlie say: me toinyn
bia, o ariste, tous paidas en tois mathemasin, alla
paizontas trephe, that is to say, and therfore, my deare frend,
bring not vp your children in learning by compulsion and feare,
but by playing and pleasure. And you, that do read _Plato_, as
The right // ye shold, do well perceiue, that these be no
readyng of // Questions asked by _Socrates_, as doutes, but they
_Plato_. // be Sentences, first affirmed by _Socrates_, as mere
trothes, and after, giuen forth by _Socrates_, as right Rules, most
necessarie to be marked, and fitte to be folowed of all them,
that would haue children taughte, as they should. And in this
counsell, iudgement, and authoritie of _Socrates_ I will repose
my selfe, vntill I meete with a man of the contrarie mynde,
whom I may iustlie take to be wiser, than I thinke _Socrates_
Yong Ien- // was. Fonde scholemasters, neither can vnder-
tlemen, be // stand, nor will folow this good counsell of _Socrates_,
wiselier // but wise ryders, in their office, can and will do
taught to // both: which is the onelie cause, that commonly,
ryde, by com- // the yong ientlemen of England, go so vnwillinglie
mon ry- // to schole, and run so fast to the stable: For in
ders, than // verie deede fond scholemasters, by feare, do
to learne, // beate into them, the hatred of learning, and wise
by common // riders, by ientle allurements, do breed vp in
Schole- //
masters. //
_the brynging vp of youth._ 199
them, the loue of riding. They finde feare, & bondage in
scholes, They feele libertie and freedome in stables: which
causeth them, vtterlie to abhore the one, and most gladlie to
haunt the other. And I do not write this, that in exhorting to
the one, I would dissuade yong ientlemen from the other: yea
I am sorie, with all my harte, that they be giuen no more to
riding, then they be: For, of all outward qualities, // Ryding.
to ride faire, is most cumelie for him selfe, most
necessarie for his contrey, and the greater he is in blood, the
greater is his praise, the more he doth excede all other therein.
It was one of the three excellent praises, amongest the noble
ientlemen the old _Percians_, Alwaise to say troth, to ride faire,
and shote well: and so it was engrauen vpon _Darius_ tumbe, as
_Strabo_ beareth witnesse. // Strabo. 15.
_Darius the king, lieth buried here,
Who in riding and shoting had neuer peare._
But, to our purpose, yong men, by any meanes, leesing the
loue of learning, whan by tyme they cum to their owne rule,
they carie commonlie, from the schole with them, a perpetuall
hatred of their master, and a continuall contempt of learning.
If ten Ientlemen be asked, why they forget so sone in Court,
that which they were learning so long in schole, eight of them,
or let me be blamed, will laie the fault on their ill handling, by
their scholemasters.
_Cuspinian_ doth report, that, that noble Emperor _Maxi-
milian_, would lament verie oft, his misfortune herein.
Yet, some will say, that children of nature, loue pastime,
and mislike learning: bicause, in their kinde, the // Pastime.
one is easie and pleasant, the other hard and
werisom: which is an opinion not so trewe, as // Learnyng.
some men weene: For, the matter lieth not so much in the
disposition of them that be yong, as in the order & maner of
bringing vp, by them that be old, nor yet in the difference of
learnyng and pastime. For, beate a child, if he daunce not well,
& cherish him, though he learne not well, ye shall haue him,
vnwilling to go to daunce, & glad to go to his booke. Knocke
him alwaies, when he draweth his shaft ill, and fauor him
againe, though he faut at his booke, ye shall haue hym verie
loth to be in the field, and verie willing to be in the schole.