CHAPTER III

THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS REFUGEES ON THE TEACHING OF FRENCH

IN ENGLAND--OPENINGS FOR THEM AS TEACHERS--DEMAND FOR

TEXT-BOOKS--FRENCH SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

Religion, the question of all questions in the sixteenth century, was

destined, incidentally, to exercise a great influence on the teaching of

French in England. The conflicts resulting from the fierce hatreds

aroused by the Reformation compelled many Protestants to seek asylum

from the triumphant Catholic reaction abroad, and England was the land

to which many of them fled.[289] Among these refugees were many who took

upon themselves the task of teaching their native tongue to the English.

The second half of the sixteenth century was the time when this

influence was most strongly felt, although it is not altogether

negligible in the years immediately preceding. In France the Reformation

had at first been favourably received at Court, but in the third decade

of the century persecution began to drive some Protestants from their

native land. They made their way to England with some trepidation at

this early date,[290] for Henry VIII., in spite of his breach with Rome,

had but little sympathy with the Protestants, although he refused on

several occasions to surrender fugitive heretics to the French

king.[291] [Header: FOREIGNERS IN ENGLAND] On the accession of Edward

VI. in 1547, however, England became a more hospitable abode for the

Protestants, driven from France in increasing numbers by the

persecutions sanctioned by Henry II., whose reign coincided with that of

Edward. When Mary came to the throne all protection extended to these

fugitives was withdrawn, and we find many of their protectors fleeing in

their turn "to the Church and Christian congregation, then dispersed in

foreine realmes, as to the safest bay."[292]

The return of the English Government to Protestantism in the reign of

Elizabeth coincided with the period of increased persecution on the

Continent. Refugees arrived in great numbers, not only Huguenots from

France, but also subjects of Philip II., Dutch, Flemings, and Walloons,

fleeing from the cruelties of Alva.[293] These inhabitants of the Low

Countries came to England in greater numbers than the Huguenots.[294]

Many of them, such as the Walloons and Burgundians, spoke French; and,

while the chief teachers of the time were drawn from the Huguenots, a

large group of these French-speaking Netherlanders also joined the

profession. To these two classes of French teachers must be added a

third, the Roman Catholics, who formed the largest proportion of the

foreigners in England.[295]

The number of foreigners, augmented by the arrival of the refugee Dutch

and French, created a situation which required serious consideration.

These foreigners now formed a large fraction of the general

population--probably about one in twenty of the inhabitants of

London.[296] It became indispensable to keep some record of them,

especially as there was a danger that spies and Roman Catholic

emissaries might enter the country under the guise of refugees, and the

overcrowding resulting from the arrival of so many aliens was becoming a

serious matter. In earlier reigns the names of strangers in London had

been registered; but in the time of Elizabeth a census, both numerical

and religious, was taken more systematically, and at more and more

frequent intervals. In these returns of aliens dwelling in London,[297]

the names of many French teachers are preserved. Frequently their

profession is stated, and we are told what church they attended and

whether or not they were denizens, as well as the part of London in

which they dwelt, and, in the lay subsidies, the amount they had to pay

towards the heavy taxes levied on strangers.

Other names are preserved in the lists of the grants of letters of

denization.[298] This grant made the precarious position of foreigners

in England more secure. Denization became almost indispensable to any

one wishing to exercise a craft or trade. These letters gave the

recipient much the same privileges as a native, except that he was still

subject to special taxation.[299] Only those intending to settle in

England would trouble to take out letters of denization; and that many

of these foreigners' stay in England was only temporary is shown by the

fact that, when the number of strangers was greatest, as after the St.

Bartholomew massacre, there is no marked increase in the number of

denizations granted.

Means for registering the Protestant section of the community of

foreigners were provided through the Dutch and French churches in

London.[300] In 1550, Edward VI. had granted the dissolved monastery of

the Austin Friars to the foreigners as a place of worship; some months

later, owing to their increase in numbers, they were allowed the use of

another building--St. Antony's Hospital in Threadneedle Street. The

congregation was divided, the Dutch part remaining in the original

church, while the French and the Walloons and other French-speaking

refugees moved to Threadneedle Street. Both churches, each with two

pastors,[301] were under the control of a Superintendent. But when, in

the time of Elizabeth, the churches rose to new life, after their

suppression in the reign of Mary, the Superintendent was replaced by the

Archbishop of Canterbury. [Header: RECEPTION OF REFUGEES IN ENGLAND]

This change, however, did not prevent the refugee congregations from

enjoying many of their former liberties, for in the time of Elizabeth

the Archbishops, who had themselves experienced the hardships of exile

in the reign of Mary, took a particular interest in the cause of the

refugees. The English, indeed, complained, not entirely without reason,

that the foreigners were allowed greater religious freedom than they

themselves.

As French and Dutch refugees settled in different parts of the country,

similar churches arose in these settlements. By the end of the reign of

Elizabeth there were French-Walloon churches in existence at Canterbury,

Glastonbury, Sandwich, Southampton, Rye, and Norwich. In 1552 all

strangers were ordered to repair either to their own church or to the

English parish church. These injunctions were renewed in the time of

Elizabeth and became a useful means of checking the number of refugees

in London. From time to time, during this reign, the Archbishop

requested the ministers of the foreign churches to send him a list of

their communicants. Foreigners who did not attend any church were not

allowed to apply for the privilege of letters of denization.

Thus the aliens who arrived in England in such large numbers in the

second part of the sixteenth century had many restrictions placed upon

them, especially if they were engaged in any craft or trade which might

arouse the commercial jealousy of the English. In the teaching

profession such rivalry would not be felt to the same extent, though it

did actually exist. In any circumstance, however, all the exiles had to

endure the hatred and insults of the common people, from which, nearly

two centuries later, Voltaire only escaped without injury thanks to his

ready wit. Riots such as those of Evil May Day (1517) were directed

mainly against foreign traders, but all foreigners, especially

Frenchmen, were a continual butt for the insults of the mob. Nicander

Nucius remarks that the common people in England do not entertain one

kindly sentiment towards the French. "Ennemis du françois" is one of the

epithets applied to the English by De la Porte in his collection of

epithets (Paris, 1571) on the different nations. The French priest,

Étienne Perlin, who was in England during the last two years of the

reign of Edward VI., and thoroughly hated the country, calling it "la

peste d'un pays et ruine," speaks bitterly of the contrast between the

courteous reception the English receive in France, and the greeting of

the French in England with the cry, "French dogue": "it pleaseth me not

that these churls being in their own country spit in our faces, and they

being in France are treated with honour, as if they were little

gods."[302] All foreign visitors to England are at one in their

complaints of the lack of courtesy among the people. The great scholar

Casaubon says he was more insulted in London than he ever was in Paris;

stones were thrown at his window day and night, and once he was wounded

in the street on his way to pay his respects at Court.[303]

All these visitors, nevertheless, recognize that the English nobility

and gentry and those in authority are "replete with benevolence and good

order," and as courteous and affable as the people are uncivil.[304] And

thus we find foreigners, especially refugees, welcomed to chairs at the

English universities, and foreign students having their fees refunded on

showing they had suffered "for religion," and receiving ecclesiastical

preferment.[305] Most of the chief families in the realm, we are told,

received refugees into their midst. Laurence Humphrey[306] exhorts these

noble families to fulfil the sacred duty of hospitality towards

strangers, especially religious exiles, whose sufferings many of them

had themselves experienced in the reign of Mary, and to provide them

with necessary livings, admit them to fellowships, and allow them yearly

stipends. "Which well I wot, the noblest Prince Edward of happy memory

most liberally did both in London and either university, whom some

Dukes, Nobles, and Bishops imitated, chiefly the reverend Father and

late Primate of England ... Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury....

Amongst the Nobles not the least praise earned Henry Gray, Marquis of

Dorset, and Duke of Suffolk now a noble citizen of Heaven, who liberally

relieved many learned exiles. The like may be said of many others."

Cranmer had entertained at Lambeth Pierre Alexandre and "diverse other

pious Frenchmen," including Antony Rudolph Chevallier, who was tutor to

Elizabeth for a short time. [Header: TUTORS IN PRIVATE FAMILIES] Matthew

Parker, his successor to the see in the time of Elizabeth, followed his

example and declared it to be a Christian duty to befriend "these gentle

and profitable strangers." Cecil, Walsingham, and other dignitaries of

the time also became their protectors, and, recognizing the advantages,

both intellectual and commercial, which accrued to the country, sought

by all means to ward off the hostile measures demanded from time to time

by the English _bourgeoisie_.

One French teacher of the time, G. de la Mothe, says that so great was

the affection of the English nobility and gentry for the French that few

of them were without a Frenchman in their houses. Thus Pierre Baro, a

native of Étampes and student of civil law who came to England at the

time of the St. Bartholomew massacre, was "kindly entertained in the

family of Lord Burghley, who admitted him to eat at his own table."

Subsequently he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and became Lady

Margaret Professor of Divinity at that university on the recommendation

of his patron, besides being admitted to the degrees of Bachelor and

Licentiate of Civil Law, and Doctor of Divinity (1576).[307] Lord

Buckhurst had for a time in his house Claude de Sainliens or Holyband,

the most popular French teacher of the time, and several other

strangers; while Sir Nicholas Throckmorton gave shelter to two

Burgundians, one Dutchman, and four Frenchmen, "whose names cannot be

learned."[308]

In many instances we know that these refugees taught French when thus

received into noble families, and it is extremely probable that such was

almost always the case, for French was one of the chief studies of the

higher classes of society and held an important place in the courtly

education of the time. This partiality for the language was called one

of the rare vocations which distinguished the English nobility. An idea

of the intellectual accomplishments necessary to a young gentleman of

the time may be gathered from the programme drawn up for Gregory, the

son of Mr. Secretary Cromwell;[309] this comprises "French, Latin,

writing, playing at weapons, casting of accounts, pastimes of

instruments." Wilson, the author of the earliest treatise on rhetoric in

English,[310] varies this scheme slightly; he commends the gentleman

"for his skill in French, or Italian, or cosmography, Laws, Histories of

all countries, gifts of inditing, playing on instruments, painting, and

drawing." Lord Ossory, Duke of Ormond, for example, rode very well, was

a good tennis-player, fencer, and dancer, understood music and played

well on the guitar and on the lute; French he spoke elegantly, while he

read Italian with ease--a careful and significant distinction between

the two languages--and, in addition, he was a good historian and well

versed in romances.[311]

Thus a place had to be assigned to French in the education of gentlemen.

Thomas Cranmer,[312] for instance, wrote to Cromwell in 1539, making

suggestions for the establishment of a College in the Cathedral Church

at Canterbury, to provide for the instruction of forty students "in the

tongues, in sciences, and in French"--a proposal which came to nothing,

but is none the less important, as being the first attempt to reinstate

French in an educational institution.

In the sixteenth century the long-standing custom among gentlemen of

sending their sons to the houses of noblemen for education was still

practised to some extent, and French was taught in these little

communities.[313] The usual subjects of study were reading, probably

writing, and languages, chiefly Latin and French. Sir Thomas More and

Roger Ascham were both educated in this way. More, at the age of three,

was sent to the house of John Morton, the chancellor, where he learnt

French, Latin, Greek, and music. Ascham spent his early years in the

house of Sir Humphrey Wingfield, who "ever loved and used to have many

children in his house."[314] Sir Henry Wotton was "pleased constantly to

breed up one or more hopeful youths which he picked out of Eton School,

and took into his own domestic care."[315] It was also customary for

young peers to become royal wards. In 1561 Sir Nicholas Bacon devised a

plan for their "bringing up in virtue and learning" which he submitted

to Cecil. [Header: FRENCH IN EDUCATION OF GENTRY] According to these

articles,[316] the wards were to attend divine service at six in the

morning, then to study Latin till eleven; nothing is said of breakfast,

but an hour is allowed for dinner; from noon till two o'clock they were

to be with the music master, from two to three with the French master,

and from three to five with the Latin and Greek masters. The rest of the

evening was devoted to prayers, honest pastimes, and music under the

direction of a master. No doubt Cecil put this advice into practice.

Some years later, Sir Humphrey Gilbert drew up an admirable scheme for

the "erection of an Academy in London for the education of her majesty's

wards, and others, the youth of Nobility and Gentlemen," which was laid

before the queen, probably in 1570. Although this scheme was never

carried out, it is of great interest as showing what were the subjects

most likely to be taught. Gilbert's plan is very extensive. French, of

course, is included in the curriculum--"also there shall be one Teacher

of the French tongue which shall be yearly allowed for the same £26.

Also he shall be allowed one usher, of the yearly wage of £10." Gilbert

urges also the teaching of other modern languages--Italian, to which he

assigns about as large a place as to French, and Spanish and High Dutch,

to which less importance is attached.[317]

French, then, was a recognized part of the education of the nobility and

gentry. Italian, it will be noticed, was also considered desirable, but

chiefly for reading purposes.[318] In the Elizabethan era Italian

literature had perhaps more influence on English writers than that of

France, although it not infrequently reached England through a French

medium. But when the first enthusiasm of the early days of the

Renaissance had burnt itself out, Italian was not cultivated generally,

except by those specially interested in literature or by those who had

special reasons for learning it. Nor was Spanish much studied, except

for practical purposes and the government services; Richard Perceval,

for instance, put his excellent knowledge of the language at the

disposal of Lord Burghley for the purpose of deciphering the packets

containing the first intelligence of the Armada.[319] Neither language

could be a dangerous rival to French, which alone was studied generally,

and by ever-increasing numbers.

It was in private tuition that those Frenchmen desirous of teaching

their language, or driven to do so by stress of circumstances, would

find the readiest opening and the largest demand for their services.

Turning to the various registers of aliens, the earliest notices we find

of French tutors are in the grant of letters of denization for the year

1544.[320] In that year one, John Verone, a French and Latin tutor to

the children of William Morris, a gentleman usher to the king, received

the grant, as did also a certain Honorie Ballier, a Frenchman who had

been ten years in England, and was engaged in teaching his language to

the children of the Lord Admiral, Lord Lisle, Duke of Northumberland.

Yet another teacher received the same privilege in this year--John

Veron, one of the "eminentest preachers" of the time, and the author of

various religious controversial works. He gained considerable preferment

in the Anglican Church, and once preached before the queen at the Cross

in St. Paul's Churchyard,--"a bold as well as an eloquent man," and a

perfect master of the English tongue.[321] In the earlier part of his

life in England, where he arrived about 1536, Veron had been engaged in

teaching gentlemen's children; a task in which, say his letters of

denization (1544), he "doth yet continue with intent ever so to

persevere." Veron manifested his interest in the teaching of Latin and

French by publishing a Latin, French, and English dictionary in 1552,

the first dictionary, published in England, in which a place is given to

French. It is based on the Latin-French Dictionary of Robert

Éstienne,[322] with the addition of a column in English, and entitled

_Dictionariolum puerorum tribus linguis Latina, Anglica, et Gallica

conscriptum cui anglicam interpretionem adjecit Joannes Veron_.[323]

The impetus imparted to the teaching of French by the arrival of these

large numbers of refugees naturally led to an increased production of

books for teaching the language. [Header: TEXT-BOOKS FOR TEACHING

FRENCH] Nearly all the grammars written in the second half of the

sixteenth century are the work of Frenchmen,[324] the English, after

their first initiative, soon giving place to the French writers on the

language, although not without some protest. Some of these teachers no

doubt made use of one or other of the grammars which had appeared in

French; many of them taught without any such help, and a few were able

to use one or other of the grammars which had already been published in

England, while yet others set to work to compile text-books of their

own. As many of them were, or had been, employed in noblemen's houses,

and had composed their grammars from material used in teaching in these

noble families, it was easy for most of them to find patrons for their

works,[325] and thus secure a greater measure of success by offering

them to the public under the protection of some well-known and powerful

name, which would "shadow these tender plants" from the "over violent

rays of reproachful censurings." To dedicate a grammar to some famous

pupil, with praise of his rare knowledge of French acquired by means of

its contents and the excellent method employed by his tutor, the author,

was a very good form of self-advertisement, freely used by the French

teachers of the time. Among patrons of French grammars were Edward VI.

and particularly Elizabeth, who is, says one of these writers, "le vray

port de retraite et asyle asseuré de ceux qui, faisans profession de

l'Evangile, souffrent ores persecution soubs la Tyrannie de

l'Antichrist"; another adds that she has "des estrangers les coeurs a

volonté." Lord Burghley, Sir Henry Wallop, Sir Philip Wharton, and other

influential men of the time also figure among the patrons of French

teachers.

These French grammars which appeared in the second half of the sixteenth

century are of a decidedly more popular kind than those of Palsgrave and

Duwes, and appeal to a larger public. The earlier grammars were written

for the special use of royalty and the highest ranks of the nobility.

Barclay, however, differs from his rivals in having a wider aim; his

grammar is intended for the "pleasure of all englysshe men as well

gentylmen marchauntes, as other common people that are not expert in the

sayd langage." Palsgrave also, by way of epilogue, expresses the hope

that the "nobility of the realm and all other persons, of whatever state

and condition whatsoever, may in their tender age, by means of it the

sooner acquire a knowledge of French by their great pains and study";

but it is clear that the size and price of his book, not to mention the

restrictions he placed on its sale, would prevent it from fulfilling any

such aim.

In this new series of French text-books there appeared nothing which

could compare in importance with the great work of Palsgrave; they were

all the hasty product of teachers, and intended to meet a pressing

practical demand. The authors had not the time, even if they had had the

ability, to produce any comprehensive study of the language, and,

consequently, their works are of more value as showing how French was

taught in England, and its popularity here, than as a store of

philological material for the historical grammarian. Rules of grammar

are usually reduced to as small a compass as possible; and the largest

part of the volumes is occupied by dialogues in French and English,

which give lively and often dramatic pictures of contemporary family

life, and of the busy London streets of the time. A place is also given

to familiar phrases, collections of proverbs, and golden sayings.

The public to which such text-books appealed was wider, including

merchants and commoners, as well as the gentry. Nor was the demand for

tutors in the language confined to the higher classes. At this time the

great middle classes were rising to wealth and prominence, and demanding

a share in the intellectual distinctions of their social betters. "As

for gentlemen, they be made good cheap in England," writes Sir Thomas

Smith,[326] in reference to the democratic movement. In this new class

of Englishman, the teachers of French recruited a large number of their

pupils. And so the French teacher who visited a clientèle of pupils

became a familiar figure in the London of the later sixteenth century.

The numerous French-speaking inhabitants of London, occupied in various

trades and crafts in the city, were, so to speak, his unconscious

collaborators, for the proportion of such foreigners in London was large

enough to have some influence on the spread of the knowledge of French.

[Header: SHAKESPEARE'S KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCH] We have an instance of this

indirect influence in the case of Shakespeare. From 1598 he lodged for

about six years, and possibly longer, in the house of a Huguenot, one

Christopher Montjoy, who lived in Silver Street, Cripplegate[327]--a

well-to-do neighbourhood, and the resort of many foreigners. Montjoy was

one of the French head-dressers who were in such demand at that time.

His wife, daughter, and also his apprentice, Stephen Bellot, formed the

rest of the household, with whom Shakespeare seems to have lived on

fairly intimate terms; he acted as a mediator in arranging a marriage

between Montjoy's daughter and Bellot, and, some years later, was drawn

into a family quarrel concerning a dowry which Bellot claimed and

Montjoy refused to pay; in 1612 Bellot took the matter into the Court of

Requests, and Shakespeare was one of the witnesses summoned. Finally the

matter was referred to the consistory of the French Church, which

decided in Bellot's favour.[328] It was no doubt during his sojourn in

the house of this Huguenot family that he improved his knowledge of

French, of which he gives evidence in his works.[329] The two plays in

which he uses the language most freely--_Henry V._ and _The Merry Wives

of Windsor_--were produced during the early time of his residence with

Montjoy, whose name is given to a French Herald in _Henry V._ In _The

Merry Wives_ the French physician, Doctor Caius, speaks a mixture of

broken English and French,[330] and in _Henry V._ French is introduced

freely into a number of the scenes,[331] while one, in which Katharine

of France receives a lesson in English from her French maid, is entirely

in French, and is here quoted for convenience' sake:[332]

(Enter _Katharine_ and _Alice_.)

_Kath._ Alice, tu as esté en Angleterre, et tu parles bien le

langage.

_Alice._ Un peu, madame.

_Kath._ Je te prie, m'enseignez; il fault que j'apprenne à

parler. Comment appellez-vous la main en Anglois?

_Alice._ La main? elle est appellée de hand.

_Kath._ De hand. Et les doigts?

_Alice._ Les doigts? ma foy, j'oublie les doigts; mais je me

soubviendra. Les doigts? je pense y qu'ils sont appellez de fingres;

ouy, de fingres.

_Kath._ La main, de hand; les doigts, de fingres. Je pense que je

suis le bon escholier. J'ay gagné deux mots d'Anglois vistement.

Comment appellez-vous les ongles?

_Alice._ Les ongles? nous les appellons, de nails.

_Kath._ De nails. Escoutez: dites-moy, si ie parle bien: de hand,

de fingres, et de nails.

_Alice._ C'est bien dict, madame; il est fort bon Anglois.

_Kath._ Dites-moi l'anglois pour le bras.

_Alice._ De arm, madame.

_Kath._ Et le coude.

_Alice._ D'elbow.

_Kath._ D'elbow. Je m'en fais la répétition de tous les mots que

vous m'avez appris dès à present.

_Alice._ Il est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense.

_Kath._ Excusez-moy, Alice; escoutez: de hand, de fingre, de

nails, de arm, de bilbow.

_Alice._ De elbow, madame.

_Kath._ O Seigneur Dieu! je m'en oublie; de elbow. Comment

appelez-vous le col?

_Alice._ De nick, madame.

_Kath._ De nick: et le menton?

_Alice._ De chin.

_Kath._ De sin. Le col, de nick: le menton, de sin.

_Alice._ Ouy. Saulve vostre honneur, en vérité vous prononcez les

mots aussi droict que les natifs d'Angleterre.

_Kath._ Je ne doubte poinct d'apprendre, par la grace Dieu, et en

peu de temps.

_Alice._ N'avez vous pas desjà oublié ce que je vous ay enseigné?

_Kath._ Non, je réciteray a vous promptement. De hand, de fingre,

de mails--

_Alice._ De nails, madame.

_Kath._ De nails, de arme, de ilbow.

_Alice._ Saulve vostre honneur, de elbow.

_Kath._ Ainsi dis-je; de elbow, de nick, et de sin: comment

appelez-vous le pied and la robbe?

_Alice._ De foot, madame; et de coun.

_Kath._ De foot, et de coun? O Seigneur Dieu! ce sont mots de son

maulvais, corruptible, gros, et impudique, et non pour les dames

d'honneur d'user. Je ne vouldrois prononcer cez mots devant les

Seigneurs de France, pour tout le monde. Il fault de foot, et de

coun, neant-moins. Je reciteray une aultre fois ma leçon ensemble:

de hand, de fingre, de nails, de nick, de sin, de foot, de coun.

_Alice._ Excellent, madame!

_Kath._ C'est assez pour une fois; allons-nous à disner.

It is not surprising, remembering Shakespeare's friendship with the

Huguenots, to find him quoting from the Genevan Bible in the same

play.[333] [Header: FRENCH NEGLECTED IN GRAMMAR SCHOOLS] When he

composed it, he must have had a strong inclination to write French, as

he sometimes uses the language rather inconsistently, making the

Dauphin, for instance, speak French one moment and English the next.

On the whole, Shakespeare's French seems to have been fairly correct

grammatically, if not quite idiomatic.[334] It contains just enough

mistakes and anglicisms to make it extremely unlikely that he received

help from any Frenchman; for example, we find the Princess Katharine of

France saying, "Je suis semblable _a les_ anges." On other occasions,

when Englishmen are speaking, Shakespeare purposely makes their French

incorrect and clumsy. That he could read French is shown by the fact

that some of the originals on which he based his plays were not

translated into English.[335] Moreover, he probably read Montaigne in

the original, unless, like Cornwallis, Florio allowed him to see his

translation in manuscript--a rather remote possibility, as the French

would be easier of access. No doubt many others besides Shakespeare owed

a good deal of their knowledge of French to direct intercourse with

Frenchmen, a means of improvement strongly advocated by the professional

teachers of the time. "Get you acquainted with some Frenchman" is their

cry.

In addition to the refugees, students or men belonging to no particular

craft or profession who took up the teaching of their language on their

arrival in England, there were also professional schoolmasters--French,

Flemish, and Walloon. Many of the latter, we may surmise, were no doubt

driven from their country by the edict issued by Margaret, Duchess of

Parma, in 1567. One clause was particularly directed against

schoolmasters who might teach any error or false doctrine. None of these

teachers, however, would find any opening in the grammar schools, which

were then "little nurseries of the Latin tongue." The memorizing of

Latin grammar, with the study of rhetoric in the Latin writers, both in

verse and prose, formed almost the whole of the curriculum.[336] In the

books on education of the time the study of French was equally ignored.

These works, however, are mainly from the pen of pedants, and have but

little bearing on practical education.[337] For them French was not a

'learned' tongue, in spite of the efforts of Palsgrave to secure its

recognition as such.

But it is not difficult to reconcile the general prevalence of the study

of French with its absence from the grammar schools. At this time, and

throughout the seventeenth century, there was a great division between

scholastic education and social requirements.[338] The school and

educational writers, in refusing to recognize French, held aloof from

the social needs of the day: "non vitae sed scholae discimus"; and in

retaining the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Middle Ages they ignored

the new spirit of nationalism which called modern languages into

prominence. The school had little, if any, effect in retarding the

progress of French, which came to be looked upon in the light of an

'extra,' to be studied privately and with the help of tutors. Many

scholars of the public or grammar schools had a private tutor who would

teach them French when occasion served. Such, for instance, was the case

with Sir Philip Sidney. Fulke Grenville and Sidney both entered

Shrewsbury School at the age of ten, in the year 1564. Two years later a

letter of Sir Henry Sidney informs us that he had received two letters

from his son, one in Latin and the other in French, "whiche I take in

good parte, and will you to exercise that Practice and Learning often:

For that will stand you in most steade, in that profession of lyf that

you are born to live in."[339] Apparently, then, Sidney had received

lessons in French either at home or out of school hours. He had also, in

all probability, had a French tutor before he went to Shrewsbury.

French, however, was not entirely neglected in all schools. As the

grammar schools were "Latin" schools, there arose in the second half of

the sixteenth century a considerable number of private "French"

schools, where this language received special attention. [Header:

PRIVATE FRENCH SCHOOLS] The earliest of these owed their origin to the

refugees, both professional schoolmasters and others. St. Paul's

Churchyard, the busy centre of city life, was the quarter round which

many of these schools were grouped. There they were most likely to get a

good clientèle, partly, it may be, among those boys attending St. Paul's

School who desired, like Sir Philip Sidney, to extend their studies. In

St. Paul's Churchyard, also, lived the chief booksellers, who generally

seem to have cultivated friendly relations with French teachers,

especially those whose books they were commissioned to sell. Frequently

they acted as agents for the teachers, who in their grammars advise

prospective pupils to "inquire" at the bookseller's. And, at this time,

when indications of address were given by reference to the nearest place

of importance, printers' signs are frequently used to locate the

situation of French schools. At least one of these schools seems to have

been very well known, for in 1590 the printer W. Wright, senior, gave as

his address, "neare to the French School."[340]

All of them, however, did not owe their origin to the French refugees.

We hear, for instance, of a certain John Love, an Englishman, son of the

steward of the Jesuit college founded by the English Catholics at Douay,

who had a French school near St. Paul's, at the end of the century. But

he was suspect, as it was feared he might be an "intelligenceer."[341]

Among the earliest, however, if not the first of these French schools,

was that of Peter Du Ploich, a Frenchman, and no doubt a refugee; at any

rate the text-book for teaching French which he published shows his

strong sympathy with the Protestants. This was entitled _A Treatise in

English and Frenche right necessary and profitable for al young

children_, and was first issued in about 1553 from the press of Richard

Grafton, who had "privilege de l'imprimer seul."[342] Of this

schoolmaster's life little is known.[343] From his little French

text-book, "right necessary to come to the knowledge of the same," we

learn that he kept his school at the sign of the Rose in Trinity

Street; that he was married, and probably received some of his pupils

into his house; and that he taught French, Latin, and writing. Probably

religious instruction also formed part of the curriculum, as it did in

the other schools of the time; both Henry VIII. and Edward VI. issued

orders that the Paternoster, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles'

Creed should be taught to children.[344] Not only Du Ploich but other

French teachers of the time provided religious formularies in their

books for teaching the language, and in 1559-1560 the printer William

Griffith received a licence to print a Catechism in Latin, French, and

English.[345]

The Catechism, Litany, Suffrages, and prayers occupy a large part of Du

Ploich's _Treatise_, which is of quarto size, and consists of about

fifty leaves.[346] All these formularies are given in both French and

English, arranged in two columns on each page.[347] Then come three

familiar dialogues which constitute the third, fourth, and fifth

chapters of the book. The first of these gives us a lively picture of

family life at the time. From the street, where we meet friends and are

taught how to greet and address them, we pass into the house, where we

are spectators of the family repast and of the arrival of the guests,

and hear conversation on many subjects in which Du Ploich finds an

opportunity for self-advertisement by mentioning his school and address.

A child reads a passage from the New Testament, and the meal is preceded

and followed by lengthy thanksgivings, which, however, do not interfere

with the joviality and conviviality of the host.

Sir, you make no good chere. Mons., vous ne faictes pas bonne chere.

You say nothing. Vous ne dictes rien.

What sholde I say? Que diroys-ie?

I cannot speake frenche. Je ne sais pas parler françois.

I understande you not. Je ne vous entens pas.

O God, what say you? O Dieu, que dictes-vous?

You speake as well as I doo Vous parlez aussy bien que je fais

and better. et mieus aussy.

Pardon me. Pardonnez moy.

It pleaseth you to say so. Il vous plaist de dire ainsy . . . etc.

[Header: PETER DU PLOICH]

The next two dialogues deal with subjects characteristic of these books

for teaching French--asking the way, the arrival and entertainment at an

inn, and finally, buying, selling, and bargaining--all topics useful for

merchants and merchants' apprentices, from whose ranks Du Ploich

probably recruited a number of his pupils. "L'aprentif" is the word he

uses in speaking of his pupils, though there is no proof to show that he

employed it in any special sense. Then comes a fifth chapter containing

the following headings: "Pour demander le chemin," "Aultre communication

en chevauchant," "Pour aller coucher," "Pour soy descoucher," and

beginning thus:

Sir, we be oute of Monsieur, nous somes hors de

our way. nostre chemin.

We be not. Non sommes.

But we be. Si sommes.

We go well. Nous allons bien.

We doo not. Non faisons.

But we doo, abyde. Si faisons, attendez.

Beholde there cometh a woman. Voyla une femme qui vient.

We will aske her Nous voulons lui demander

whiche is the way. ou est le droict chemin.

Good wife, shew me M'amie, monstre moy

the ryghte way le droict chemin d'icy

here hence to the nexte towne. au prochain village.

Streyghte before you. Tousiours devant vous.

Upon whiche hande? A quelle main?

On the lefte hande. A la main gauche, etc.

In the sixth chapter the merchants leave the inn in the early morning to

transact their business:

Wil we go see if we Voulons nous aller veoir sy nous

can bye some thyng? pourrons acheter quelque chose?

That shold be wel done, Ce seroit bien faict,

but it is yet too tymely. mais il est encore trop tempre.

By your licence it is tyme. Pardonnez moy il est temps.

Have you any Eglyshe cloth? Avez vous dez draps d'Engleterre?

Ye, what colour. Ouy, quelle couleur . . . etc.

At the end come the names of the figures, necessary for such

transactions, and finally information and advice in verse form, without

any English rendering, "pour gens de finance":

Toy qui est receveur du Roy

Je te prie entens et me croy.

Reçoy avant que tu escripves,

Escriptz avant que tu delivres,

De recevoir faitz diligence

Et fais tardifve delivrance.

En tes clers pas tant ne te fie

Que veoir te fais souvent oublie.

Regarde souvent en ton papier

Quant, quoy, combien il fault payer.

Prens lettres quy soyent vaillables,

Aye parrolles amiables,

Et soys diligent de compter.

Ainsy pourras plus hault monter.

Du Ploich seems to have brought with him to England a Genevan "A B C,"

or book of elementary instruction and prayers for children, such as was

common in France as well as in England. The next section of his treatise

treats of the French A B C in words identical with those of an _A B C

françois_ printed at Geneva in 1551. This is followed by a few very

slight rules in English, which tell us not to pronounce the last letter

of a French word, except _s_, _t_, and _p_, when the next word begins

with a consonant; to neglect a vowel at the end of a word when the

following word begins with another vowel; also that the accusative

precedes the verb; that after _au_, _ou_, _i_, and _eu_, _l_ is not

sounded; that the consonants _sp_, _st_, and _ct_ should not be

separated in pronunciation; and that the negative is formed by placing

_ne_ before the verb and _pas_ or _point_ after it. To this scanty

grammatical information, which bears considerable resemblance to that

contained in some previous works,[348] the eighth and last chapter adds

the conjugation of the two auxiliaries in Latin, English, and French.

The treatise closes with a Latin poem addressed to "preceptor noster Du

Ploich" by John Alexander, one of his pupils, and with a table of

contents.

No doubt French was the basis of the whole of the instruction given by

Du Ploich in his school. His pupils learnt to write from this French

text-book, and memorized the Latin verbs with the French verbs. The fact

that Du Ploich places his few grammar rules at the end of the work, and

after the practical reading-exercises, shows what slight importance he

attached to them. He would, we may assume, refer his pupils to them as

occasion arose, but practical exercises and conversation formed the

chief part of his lessons. He made free use of English in explaining the

meaning of the French, and throughout his book he sacrifices the English

phrase in order to render more closely the meaning of the French, for

which he duly apologizes: "that none blame or reprove this sayd

translacion thus made in Englishe because that it is a litle corrupt.

[Header: DU PLOICH'S METHOD OF TEACHING] For the author hath done it for

the better declaryng of the diversitie of one tounge to the other, and

it is turned almost worde for worde and lyne for lyne, that it may be to

his young scholars more easy and lyght."

Du Ploich was thoughtful for his young pupils. "A little at a time, and

that done well" was his motto. On this method, he says, the child will

learn more in a week than he would do in two months by attempting a

great deal at the beginning. The master should repeat the lesson two or

three times before allowing the child to say it, and be ready to explain

difficulties, and not wait for the child to guess. If not, the pupil

will lose patience and the little courage he possesses. Du Ploich would

have the verbs learnt on the plan already advocated on a larger scale by

Duwes, that is, he advises the student to practise them negatively and

interrogatively as well as in the usual affirmative form.

Some time later, probably after Du Ploich's death, or when he had left

England, there appeared another edition of his grammar. This was printed

by John Kingston, and finished on the fourteenth day of April 1578.[349]

An important change in the arrangement of the chapters distinguishes it

from the edition of 1553; in the later edition the chapter on the

alphabet and grammar is placed at the beginning, although in both issues

the chapter on the two auxiliaries closes the work. Kingston--for he was

probably responsible for the change--thus yielded to the tendency, which

became stronger and stronger as time advanced, of placing theoretical

before practical instruction. In addition to slight variations, other

differences between the two works are the omission of the verses for

"gens de finance," and of the Latin poem addressed to Du Ploich by one

of his pupils.

_The Little Treatise in English and French_ was not the only work

produced by Du Ploich during his residence in England. On its completion

he turned his attention to the composition of a work on the estate of

princes, which he called a _Petit Recueil tresutile et tresnecessaire de

l'Etat dez Princes, dez Seigneurs temporelz et du commun peuple, faict

par Pierre Du Ploych_.[350] This _Recueil_ is written in French. Its

subject matter is not of much interest, but the Latin verses with which

it closes inform us that Du Ploich had a law degree (Licentiatus Legum).

He dedicated the manuscript, which is not dated, to the "Roy tres

puissant Eduard sixieme de ce nom," who graciously received it and

rewarded Du Ploich's industry by a generous gift.[351] This favourable

reception encouraged the French teacher to present another work to his

"Soverain lord and master" in the course of the following year. This

second manuscript is shorter than the earlier _Recueil_;[352] it bears

the title of _Petit Recueil des homaiges, honneurs et recognoissances

deubz par les hommes a Dieu le createur, avec certaines prieres en la

recognoissance de soy mesme_. At the end occurs a passage of some

interest in which Du Ploich expresses his intention of providing the

work, unworthy as it is, with an English translation, as soon as he

finds time and opportunity for such an undertaking, for he has not

English "de nature."[353] This rendering, he says, will be "mot pour mot

et ligne pour ligne, affin d'augmenter les couraiges des professeurs."

We may infer from this that he thought of having the work printed in

French and English for the use of students.

A French school very similar to that of Du Ploich, but of which we have

more details, was kept by Claude de Sainliens, De Sancto Vinculo, or, as

he anglicized it, Holyband. A native of Moulins and a Huguenot, Holyband

probably sought refuge in England from the persecutions. In 1571 he is

said to have been in England seven years;[354] hence he must have begun

his long career in London as a teacher of French in the year 1564. In

1566 he took out letters of denization.[355] Holyband was not exactly a

scholar, but rather a man of broad interests, sustained by extraordinary

vitality, and before he had been in England three years he had published

two books for teaching French, which became very popular, and continued

to be reprinted for nearly a century. There is no extant copy of the

earliest edition of the first of these, but it appeared most probably

in 1565. [Header: CLAUDE HOLYBAND] The earliest copy known is dated

1573, and bears the title, _The French Schoolemaister, wherin is most

plainlie shewed the true and most perfect way of pronouncinge of the

French Tongue_. The contents of this little book are of the kind which

became characteristic of works for teaching French. It opens with rules

for pronunciation and grammar in English, of little value or

originality, and purposely made as concise as possible. These are

followed by dialogues, collections of proverbs, golden sayings, prayers,

and graces before meat, and a large vocabulary. The dialogues are by far

the most interesting portion of the work. Like those of Du Ploich, they

show a close connexion between the teaching of French and the daily

concerns of life. They give us a picture of the busy London of the time,

and especially of St. Paul's Churchyard, as well as lively family

scenes, together with the usual wayside and tavern conversation. We see

the boy setting off to school in the morning, threading his way through

the busy streets, and again see him return to the hearty and hospitable

family dinner, during which he finds occasion to speak of his French

studies. These dialogues are given in French and English arranged on

opposite pages. Their dramatic interest may be gathered from the opening

passage, where we listen to the servant hurrying the boy off to school:

Hau François, levez vous et allez Ho Francis, arise and go to

a l'eschole: vous serez battu, schoole: you shall be beaten,

car il est sept heures passées: for it is past seven:

abillez vous vistement. make you ready quickly.

Dites voz prieres, puis vous Say your prayers, then you

aurez vostre desiuner: shall have your breakfast:

sus, remuez vous. go to, stirre.

Marguerite, baillez moy mes chausses. Margaret, give me my hosen.

Despeschez vous ie vous prie: où est Dispatch I pray you: where is

mon pourpoint? apportez me iartieres my doublet? bring my garters

et mes souliers: and my shoes:

donnez moy ce chausse-pied. give me that shooing-horne.

Que faites vous là? What do you there?

que ne vous hastez vous? why make you no haste?

Prenez premierement une chemise blanche, Take first a cleane shirt,

car la vostre est trop sale: for yours is too foule:

n'est elle pas? is it not?

Hastez vous donc, Make haste then,

car ie demeure trop. for I do tarry too long.

Elle est encore moite, attendez un peu It is moist yet, tarry a litle

que ie la seiche au feu: that I may drie it by the fire:

i'auray tost fait. I will have soone done.

Je ne sauroye tarder si longuement. I cannot tarry so long.

Allez vous en, ie n'en veux point. Go your way, I will none of it.

Vostre mere me tancera Your mother will chide me

si vous allez a l'eschole if you go to school

sans vostre chemise blanche. without your clean shirt.

And after quarrelling with Margaret, and using rather bad language,

Francis receives his parents' blessing, and starts off to school.

Unfortunately we are not spectators of his doings there.

Whether Holyband had opened his French school or not when he composed

the _French Schoolemaister_ is uncertain; but the school was evidently

in full swing at the time his second work appeared, about a year later,

in 1566. The contents of the new work, _The French Littleton, a most

easie, perfect, and absolute way to learn the French tongue_, are much

the same as those of the _French Schoolemaister_. There is, however, one

important difference between the two works. In the _Schoolemaister_ the

rules precede the practical exercises, but this order is reversed in the

_Littleton_. In the first work Holyband does not appear to have fully

evolved his method of teaching French. By the time he wrote the _French

Littleton_ he was able to lay down principles, based, no doubt, on

experience, and consequently he attached a higher value to the second of

his works, and used it himself in teaching. The _French Schoolemaister_

was intended more for the use of private pupils. It was described as a

"perfect way" of learning French without any "helpe of Maister or

teacher,[356] set foorthe for the furtherance of all those whiche doo

studie privately in their own study or houses." Holyband himself does

not seem to have given it much attention after its first appearance.

Nevertheless it enjoyed as great a popularity and went through as many

editions, or nearly so, as its author's more favoured work. Other French

teachers made up for Holyband's neglect by editing it themselves in the

early seventeenth century. So great indeed was its success that in 1600

a tax of 20 per cent was levied on each edition for the benefit of the

poor.[357] We may perhaps conclude from this that those who studied

French privately were numerous.

The value of the _French Littleton_ is more educational; it expounds all

the favourite theories of its author. The name is taken from the popular

work on English law, the text-book for all law-students, Littleton's

_Tenures_. While the _French Schoolemaister_ was a small octavo, the

_Littleton_ was printed to the size of a tiny pocket-book, in 16mo.

[Header: HOLYBAND'S FRENCH GRAMMARS] First come practical exercises in

the form of dialogues in French and English,[358] but of less lively

interest than those of the _Schoolemaister_. They deal, however, with

the same subjects,[359] only, as we read them we do not forget, as we

were inclined to do in the earlier book, that we are reading exercises

intended for school use. Then follow proverbs, golden sayings, prayers,

the creed, the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, a treatise on

the iniquity of dancing (_Traité des Danses_), and finally a vocabulary

less comprehensive and of less value than that of the _French

Schoolemaister_.

The _French Littleton_ derives additional interest from the fact that in

it Holyband sets forth a new system for rendering the pronunciation of

French easier to the English. He realized the difficulties placed in

their way by the many unsounded letters present in certain French words.

He had no desire, however, to join the extremists, who advocated the

omission of all such consonants in orthography as well as in

pronunciation. Holyband considered such letters an essential part of the

word, and often a useful indication of the pronunciation of vowels and

of the derivation. He therefore proposed a compromise which he thought

would please both parties: he retains the unsounded letters, but

distinguishes them from those which were pronounced by placing a small

cross below them,[360] a device adopted in later editions of the _French

Schoolemaister_ also. A short quotation from the conversation for

travellers and merchants will show how Holyband applied his method:

Monsieur ou pikez vous si bellement? Sir whither ride you so softly?

x

A Londres To London

à la foire de la Berthelemy. to Barthelomews faire.

x

Je vay au Landi à Paris, je vay I go to Landi to Paris,

à Rouen. to Rouen.

Et moy aussi: allons ensemble: And I also: let us go together:

x

je suy bien aise I am very glad

d'avoir trouvé compagnie. to have found company.

Allons de par Dieu: Let us go in God's name:

x

picquons un peu, let us pricke a littell,

j'ay pour que nous ne venions pas là I fear we shall not come thither

x x x

de jour, car le soleil by daylight: the sunne

x

s'en va coucher. goeth downe.

Mais où logerons nous? où est But where shall we lodge? where is

x x x

le meilleur logis? la meilleure the best lodging? the best

x

hostelerie? inne?

Ne vous souciez pas de cela: Care you not for that: it is

x x

c'est au grand marché a l'enseigne at the great market, at the sign

x x

de la fleur de lis, vis à vis of the flower Deluce, right over

de la croix. against the crosse.

Je suy joyeux d'estre arrivé, car I am glad that I am arrived, for

x x

certes g'ay bon appetit: truly I have a good stomacke:

J'espère de faire à ce soir I hope to make to-night

x

souper de marchant. a marchauntes supper.

Nous disons en nostre pais We say in our country,

x x

que desiuner that hunters

de chasseurs, disner d'advocats, breakefast, lawyers dinner,

x x x

souper de supper of

marchants et collacion de moynes marchauntes, and monkes drinking

x x

est is

xx

la meilleure chere qu'on sauroit the best cheere that one can

x x

faire, make,

et pour vivre en epicurien. and to live like an epicure.

x

Et on dit en nostre paroisse And they say in our parish

x x

que jeunes that young

x

medecins font les cymetieres phisitions make the churchardes

x

bossus crooked

et vieux procureurs, procès tortus: and old attornies sutes to go awry,

x x

mais au but on the

contraire que jeunes procureurs et contrary that young lawyers,

x

vieux medecins, jeune chair, olde phisitions, young flesh,

x

et vieil poisson sont les meilleurs. and old fishe be the best.

x x x x x

Or bien, irons nous acheter Well shall we go and buy

ce qu'il that whiche

nous faut? Nous demourons trop. we doe lack? We tarie to long.

x x

Roland que ne te leves-tu? ouvre Roland, why doest thou not rise?

x

ouvre open

la boutique: est tu encore au lit? the shop: are you yet a bed?

x x

Tu aimes bien la plume: si mon Thou loveth the fethers well: if my

x

maistre descend, et qu'il ne treuve maister commeth downe and find not

x x x

la boutique ouverte, the shop opened,

x

il se courroucera. he will be angry.

Messieurs, monsieur, madame, Sirs, sir, my lady,

mesdames, mademoiselle, maistres, gentlewoman,

que demandez vous? que cerchez vous? what lack you? what seek you?

x x

Qu'acheteriez vous volontiers? What would you buy willingly?...

x x

The most interesting of the dialogues in the _French Littleton_,

however, is that in which we have a picture of Holyband's school, which

was first opened in St. Paul's Churchyard at the sign of Lucrece--the

shop of the printer Thomas Purfoote. Here we see children arriving for

their lessons early in the morning, each with his own books and other

materials. The schoolroom seems to have been a lively place; the

scholars are represented as fighting, pulling each other's hair, tearing

their books, and indulging in other pranks of the kind. Holyband sought

to keep order by means of a birch, and one of the many offences which

called it into action was the speaking of English. [Header: HOLYBAND'S

FRENCH SCHOOL] In this little school of his, Holyband appears to have

laboured at the task he set himself of leading the English nation "comme

par la main au cabinet de (nostre) langue françoyse," under excellent

conditions. The whole atmosphere seems to have been French. The

curriculum, however, was not confined to this one language. Holyband had

to safeguard his interests by instructing his pupils in the subjects

taught in the ordinary English schools, and so we find him teaching

Latin, writing, and counting, as well as French, and probably by means

of French. With some of his pupils Holyband studied Terence, Vergil,

Horace, the _Offices_ of Cicero, and with others, Cato, the _Pueriles

Confabulatiunculae_, and Latin grammar, according to their capacity. Yet

others learnt reading, writing, and French only. Morning school, which

closed with prayer at eleven, was devoted chiefly to the study of Latin.

The afternoon was given over entirely to French; and it does not seem

unreasonable to suppose that other scholars came then specially for

instruction in French. The pupils returned for afternoon work at

mid-day, and began by translating French into English and then

retranslated the English back into French, using, we may be sure,

Holyband's _French Littleton_. Next came a little practice in

vocabulary, in which "maister Claude" asked them the French for various

English words. Grammar was not neglected, but questions concerning it do

not appear to have been invited until some difficulty in the text

rendered it necessary. The pupils were also required to decline various

nouns and verbs which occurred in the text. The auxiliaries they were

expected to learn by heart. Not until five o'clock did the long French

lesson draw to a close, and then the scholars lit their torches or

lanterns and set off home after being dismissed with evening prayers.

Before their departure, they received instructions to read the lesson

for the following day six or seven times after supper. By doing this,

their master assured them, it would appear easy on the morrow, and be

learnt without effort.

Holyband informs us that his charges were one shilling a week or fifty

shillings a year. He allows that this was more than the fees asked for

in most schools, but justifies the higher charge by the superior

instruction imparted. At any rate his school was very prosperous. In

1568, when it had been in existence for at least two, and perhaps three

years, we find him assisted by an usher, one John Henrycke, said to be

a Frenchman.[361] He was, no doubt, the Jehan Henry "Maistre d'Eschole,"

who wrote a dizain in praise of Holyband's _French Schoolemaister_

(1573), where, in rather questionable French, he summoned the students

of France to devote all their attention to "ce poli et belle oeuvre,"

and not to read

Des ravaudeurs le reste,

Qui souloyent quelques regles escrire,

Mais, au vray indignes de les lire.

Holyband, as we have noticed, was a very active and somewhat restless

person, never staying long in one place, and it is difficult to follow

him in his frequent changes of residence. For a time he removed his

school to Lewisham, then outside London. Here, sometime before 1573, he

had an interview with Queen Elizabeth, who perhaps visited his school as

she passed through the village, for the head boy, Harry Edmondes,

pronounced a discourse before Her Majesty.

In 1576 Holyband had given up his French school, and entered the ranks

of French private tutors, living in the house of a patron. He was one of

the aliens dwelling in Salisbury Court, the residence of Lord Buckhurst,

and, no doubt, was engaged in teaching French to the younger children of

his protector. He had previously come into contact with this noble

family, and had probably received some assistance from this quarter on

his arrival in England, and may have taught French to the eldest son,

Robert Sackville, now at Oxford,[362] to whom he dedicated both his

early works.

When we first hear of Holyband he was already married and had children.

His wife died probably before he went to Salisbury Court. Two years

later he married an Englishwoman, Anne Smith,[363] and had resumed his

French school in St. Paul's Churchyard, but his address was now at the

sign of the Golden Bell, for the printer Thomas Purfoote had moved his

sign to Newgate Market. [Header: HOLYBAND'S TEACHING CAREER] Here he

remained for some time, until 1581 at the earliest, and probably

somewhat later. He also attended the French Church. At this period of

his life he again turned his attention to writing on the French

language, and collecting together notes which he had no doubt compiled

in past years. In 1580 three new works on French appeared from his pen.

One was a _Treatise for Declining Verbs_--a subject which he calls "the

second chiefest worke of the Frenche tongue"--written at the request of

several gentlemen and merchants. The book itself is of little value, and

did not by any means share the popularity of his earliest books. Still,

two other editions appeared, one in 1599 and the other much later, in

1641. The second of these works, dealing with French pronunciation on

much the same lines as the _French Littleton_, was even less popular. It

was intended for the "learned," and consequently written in Latin--_De

Pronuntiatione linguae gallicae_.[364] Holyband was also becoming more

ambitious in his dedications; probably through Lord Buckhurst, the

queen's cousin on his mother's side, he was able to dedicate his

treatise "ad illustrissimam simulque doctissimam Elizabetham Anglorum

Reginam." At the end Holyband added a dialogue in three different kinds

of spelling--the new, the old, and his own--as well as a Latin sermon on

the Resurrection. A French-English Dictionary was the third of these

works, published in 1580, with the title: _The Treasurie of the French

Tong, Teaching the way to varie all sorts of Verbs, Enriched so

plentifully with Wordes and Phrases (for the benefit of the studious in

that language), as the like hath not before bin published._ Many years

later, in 1593, Holyband again gave proof of his deep interest in French

lexicography by the publication of his _Dictionarie French and English,

published for the benefit of the studious in that language_, based on

his earlier work, but on a much larger scale.[365]

Meanwhile he had had an opportunity to extend his knowledge and to

refresh his mind by a long journey on the Continent. Once more he had

yielded to his love of change and movement, and entered the service of

another powerful patron, Lord Zouche, to whom he dedicated his

dictionary of 1593. In the dedication we are told how he had undertaken

a "long, lointain, penible et dangereux voyage" with his noble

protector, who was to him "plutot pere ou baston de vieillesse que non

pas maistre, Seigneur ou commandeur." Thus we may conclude that, when

Lord Zouche crossed to Hamburg by sea in March 1587, intending to

qualify himself for public service on the Continent, as well as to "live

cheaply," Holyband accompanied him, and, no doubt, found many

opportunities for serious study. They proceeded to Heidelberg, where

their names were inscribed on the matriculation register of the

university in May.[366] Zouche then travelled to Frankfort, Basle

(1588), Altdorf (1590), and thence to Vienna (1591), and on to Verona,

returning to England in 1593.[367]

After the publication of this last of his works in 1593, we lose sight

of Holyband in his rôle of teacher of French. He was, however, still in

England in 1597, when he dedicated a new edition of his _French

Littleton_ to a new patron, Lord Herbert of Swansea. Thereafter he is

not mentioned, and subsequent editions of his most popular works--the

_Schoolemaister_ and _French Littleton_--were issued without his

supervision. Probably he had returned to his native country, for in the

last of his published works he assumes the title of "gentilhomme

bourbonnais," which suggests that he had come into the possession of

some property in his native province, where his name was still known in

the seventeenth century.[368] Certain it is that he did not remain in

England. There is no further trace of his children, of whom he had at

least four.[369] Thus silently, as if forgetful of his former habits, he

slipped out of sight after he had spent nearly forty years teaching his

language in England. He won the praise of the scholar Richard Mulcaster,

soon to be appointed Head of St. Paul's School, near which Holyband had

so long had his own modest establishment; and the poet George Gascoigne

wrote a sonnet in his honour: [Header: HOLYBAND'S METHOD OF TEACHING

FRENCH]

The pearl of price which Englishmen have sought

So farre abroade, and cost them there so dere,

Is now founde out within our country here,

And better cheape amongst us may be bought.

I mean the French that pearle of pleasant speech,

Which some sought for, and bought it with their lives,

With sicknesse some, yea some with bolts and gives,

But all with payne this peerlesse pearle did seeke.

Now Holyband, a friendly French indeede,

Hath tane such paynes, for everie English ease,

That here at home we may this language learne,

And for the price he craveth no more meede

But thankfull harts to whome his pearles may please.

Oh, thank him then, that so much thanke dothe earne.

Holyband, like his predecessor Du Ploich, was an advocate of the

practical teaching of languages. A perfect knowledge of French, in his

eyes, consisted in being able to read and pronounce the language

accurately. Thus the first thing to be done by those desiring to study

the language is to begin to read at once. The learner must not "entangle

himself at the first brunte" with rules; but, "after he hath read them

over, let him take in hand the dialogues, and as occasion requireth he

shall examine the rules, applying their use unto his purpose."[370] He

must first "frame his tongue by reading them aloud, noting carefully

which letters are not pronounced, looking for the reasons why they are

lefte in the rules of pronunciation," so that "when he shall happen

uppon other bookes printed without these caracters he may remember which

letters ought to be uttered and which ought not." In these rules[371]

Holyband endeavours to explain French sounds by comparison with English

sounds. His treatment of the letter _a_ may be given as an example of

his method. "Sound our _a_," he says,[372] "as you sound the first

sillable in Laurence, or Augustine in English. When _a_ is joined with

_in_ it loseth his sound, or at the least it is very little heard: as

_pain_, _hautain_.... Pronounce then as if they were written thus:

_pin_, _hautin_.... But if _e_ followeth _n_, then _i_ goeth more

towards _n_, thus: _balaine_, _semaine_ ...," and then he proceeds to

describe in like fashion the sounds of the diphthong _ai_. His treatment

of the sound _gn_ is quaint and interesting. "When you find any word

written with _gn_, remember how you pronounce these English words,

_onion_, _minion_, _companion_, and such like: so melting _g_, and

touching smoothly the roofe of the mouth with the flat of the tongue,

say: _mignon_, _oignon_, _compagnon_; say then, _cam-pa-gne_,

_campa-gnie_, and not _cam-pag-ne_, _campag-nie_, separating _g_ from

_n_; but rather sound them as if they were written thus in your English

tongue, _campaine_, _campanie_."

Such rules alone, however, were of little value in Holyband's opinion,

and we cheerfully agree with him. The reader must be very circumspect in

his use of them, and his teacher a very skilful Frenchman, "or else all

will go to wracke." He seems to have thought that much more depended on

the tutor than on rules. No doubt he fully shared the opinion stated

earlier by Duwes, that rules are of more use to the teacher than the

learner. "Oh how busie is this tongue," he says of French, "and into

what maze doth the learner enter which doth take it in hand: therefore

let his tutor be sevenfold skilfull." We are prepared, then, to find

Holyband agreeing with Henry VIII.'s tutor on another point--the

teaching of French and writing of French grammars by the English. To him

it appeared obvious that "it is not the part of a stranger, except he be

learned and of a long continuance in France, to give precepts concerning

the pronunciation of the (French) tongue: yea neither of the best

Frenchmen, be he never so learned or eloquent in the same, except he

hath practised the premises by teaching or otherwise by a long and

diligent observation." There can be no question of committing rules to

memory; they merely serve to throw light on the reading matter. Yet the

practice of memorizing is not neglected. There were two purposes for

which it was called into use, the verbs, chiefly the two auxiliaries,

and vocabulary, to which Holyband attached much importance.

According to Holyband himself, his method had excellent results. He was

especially proud of the pronunciation of his pupils. In teaching this he

followed a plan which strikes the modern reader as curious, but which

had already been employed in an early sixteenth-century grammar, that of

the poet Alexander Barclay. According to this plan he taught his

scholars the main characteristics of the different dialects of France,

as well as the pure French in which they were encouraged to speak. His

reason for doing so was to put them on their guard against the variety

of dialects, chiefly Picard and Walloon, spoken by the numerous refugees

scattered all over London. [Header: FRENCH CHURCH SCHOOLS] When new

scholars came to his school from "other French schools," he assures us

that on hearing them speak and pronounce any letter incorrectly, his own

pupils "spie the faultes as soone as I, yea they cannot abide it: and

which is more they will discerne whether the maister which taught them

first was a Burgonian, a Norman, or a Houyet."

The reading, which Holyband made the basis of his language teaching, was

always explained by means of English renderings. In his dialogues he

makes no attempt to retain the purity of the English phrase. English for

him was merely a vehicle for interpreting to his young scholars the

meaning of the French, "for I do not pretend to teach them any other

thing then the French tongue," and so he begs his readers not to "muse"

at the English of his book, but to take the French with such goodwill as

it is offered. It will be noticed that on this point, as on many

others--placing the rules after the practical exercises, for

instance--Holyband resembles Du Ploich, and no doubt he was acquainted

with the _Treatise_ of his less well known fellow-teacher. The points of

resemblance between the dialogues of the two works are sufficient proof

of this, although Du Ploich's cannot compare with Holyband's in

interest. Another work which had some influence on his dialogues was the

_Linguae Latinae Exercitatio_ of the great Spanish scholar and

educationist Vives--a book containing Latin dialogues, dealing with the

life of the schoolboy at home and at school, at work and at play. This

was a very popular school-book in the sixteenth century, and was most

likely used by Holyband in the Latin lessons at his own school. He also

incorporated the Latin dialogues of Vives in a work which he called the

_Campo di Fior, or flowery field of four languages, Italian, Latin,

French and English_, giving the dialogues in these four languages. This

work appeared in 1583, when he was probably still teaching in St. Paul's

Churchyard.[373]

Besides these French schools kept by private individuals, there were

others in connexion with the French churches. After the foundation of

the French Church in Threadneedle Street, other churches had arisen in

different parts of the country. The education of the children attending

these institutions had to be seen to, and very soon schools were

established under the supervision of the churches themselves.[374]

Although these schools were primarily intended for the instruction of

the children of the refugees, they also undertook to teach those "who

would wish to learn the French language." Just as some English attended

the services of the French Church, so also some sent their children to

the school associated with it. And it must be remembered that to some

Englishmen the French Church presented greater attractions than the

English Church did at that time; for there naturally grew up a bond of

sympathy between the Protestant refugees and the English Nonconformists,

many of whom sought in the French Church, with its Genevan discipline, a

form of worship not sanctioned by the English Church. Others attended

these churches for the same reason as the "Italianate gentleman,"

censured by Roger Ascham,[375] went to the Italian Church: "to heare the

(French) tongue naturally spoken, not to heare God's doctrine trewly

preached." This was a practice strongly advocated by many of the French

teachers of the time. The number of Englishmen of both kinds must have

been considerable. In 1573 Elizabeth issued an Order forbidding the

French Church to give communion to those English who, by curiosity or

dislike for their own ceremonies, wished to receive it in the French

Church. The church in Threadneedle Street took steps to limit the number

of its English adherents. These were required to produce evidence of a

sober life, and of loyalty to their own church, before they were allowed

to communicate.[376] English names are not uncommon in the Threadneedle

Street Registers. Even members of the nobility stood as sponsors to the

children of the French strangers, for instance, the Marquis of Hamilton,

the Earl of Pembroke, and the Countess of Bedford, in the year

1624.[377] The French Church at Southampton also had numerous English

members and communicants,[378] while at Canterbury a rule was made that

all the English connected with the church should know French; on one

occasion, a person was refused as a sponsor on account of his ignorance

of that tongue.[379] [Header: FRENCH SCHOOL AT CANTERBURY] Considering

the esteem in which the French churches were held by many Englishmen,

we may assume that some of the latter were glad to take advantage of the

willingness of the French Church to receive their children into its

schools. The refugees, on their part, did not always send their children

to their own schools. The sons of the wealthier strangers would go to

the English grammar schools, and thence, in many cases, to the

University.[380]

The subjects taught in these French church schools were, no doubt, much

the same as those of the private French schools, including religious

instruction, writing, reading, arithmetic, and possibly music. The

curriculum appears to have been of quite an elementary nature. As to the

teachers, they were required to be of sober life, and members of the

French Church. They had to be appointed by the minister and presented to

the bishop. They also were required to give the minister an account of

the books they read to the children, and of the methods followed, and be

willing to adopt the advice of their superiors "sans rien entreprendre à

leur fantaisie." Further, it was their duty to conduct the children to

church on Sunday for the catechism.[381] Such were the regulations laid

down in the second Discipline, drawn up on the restoration of the French

Church after the accession of Elizabeth. When this was revised some

years later, in 1588, a few changes were made. The presentation to the

bishop was dispensed with, and the teachers were no longer obliged to

conduct the children to the catechism: they had only to prepare them to

answer it. And the ministers, on their side, were required to visit the

schools, accompanied by the elders and deacons, at least four times a

year; their attention was specially called to "those who teach

languages."[382]

The French teachers attached to the Church at Canterbury are those of

whom we have most detailed information. In one of the articles of a

petition, which the group of refugees there addressed to the city

authorities, in the reign of Elizabeth, they crave that permission may

be given to the schoolmaster whom they have brought with them to teach

both their own youth and also other children who desire to learn the

French tongue.[383] Their request appears to have been well received,

as a French church and school were established not long after. Among the

names of the petitioners was that of Vincent Primont, teacher of youth,

who seems to have been the first schoolmaster of this little community.

He was a refugee from Normandy, and arrived at Rye in 1572.[384] To the

office of schoolmaster, which he held for many years, was added that of

Reader to the congregation--a post he resigned in 1584, owing to some

action of the consistory which did not meet with his approval. The last

mention we have of him, as schoolmaster, occurs in December 1583, when a

member of the congregation was reproved for allowing his workmen to set

a bad example to Master Vincent's scholars. He probably filled his

position for some time after this date. In August 1581, however, another

teacher, Nicholas du Buisson, obtained permission "to go from house to

house to teach children," and in 1583 received a small quarterly

allowance for taking charge of the children at the services in the

Temple.[385] The demand for teachers apparently increased considerably

at this time; in 1582 we hear of a third schoolmaster, Paul Le Pipre,

who had already been teaching for some time previous to this date. Le

Pipre several times took steps to defend his monopoly and prevent the

admission of other schoolmasters. In 1582 he opposed the application of

Jan Roboem or Jean Robone, who sought permission to hold school. Roboem,

who had been Reader in the French Protestant Church at Dieppe, fled

thence to Rye in 1572, in company with his wife and two children.[386]

He was in very poor estate on arriving at Canterbury, and the consistory

of the French Church at last prevailed on Le Pipre to agree to his

admission, promising him that if any disadvantage accrued to him thereby

it should be remedied. Roboem was therefore told he might put his notice

on the door of the Temple--the usual form of advertisement--whenever he

pleased.[387] He did not, however, keep it there long, moving to London

in the same year. He is no doubt to be identified with the John Robonin,

"schoolmaster of the French tongue," who was living in the "Warde of

Chepe," and attending the French Church, at the end of 1582.[388]

[Header: PAUL LE PIPRE]

Paul Le Pipre was again approached in 1583 with regard to the

appointment of another schoolmaster, probably a successor to Robonin. He

was told that another teacher was necessary, and that one had come

forward, a destitute refugee, who wished for permission to teach in

order to earn his living. Le Pipre replied "that he held to his

agreement with the Church, namely that he could not leave without giving

three months' notice." Ultimately it was decided "that the aforesaid

should not be permitted to keep school, both on account of the agreement

and because he was not as yet sufficiently known to be of the religion."

This teacher, whose name is not given, was, however, allowed to instruct

"certain married people, and others grown up and over fourteen years of

age who did not go to Paul's school, in consideration of his

poverty."[389]

Paul Le Pipre retained the position he was so unwilling to share with a

colleague, for many years after this. The last we hear of him is in

September 1597, when he was censured by the consistory for holding

school on Sunday.

French schools likewise arose in other provincial towns, where French

Churches had been established. There were also, it appears, similar

private schools, with the primary object of teaching French to the

English, and unconnected with the churches. At any rate, French and

Walloon schoolmasters arrived in some of these towns. At Rye in 1572,

for instance, we come across Nicholas Curlew and Martin Martin,

fugitives from Dieppe,[390] though probably, like Vincent Primont and

John Robone, they did not settle in the town. At Norwich, in 1568, was a

Pierre de Rieu of Lille who had arrived ten months before, and in 1622

Francis Boy and John Cokele.[391] At Dover, in the same year, Francis

Rowland and Nicholas Rowsignoll, both French schoolmasters, had "come

out of France by reason of the late troubles yet continuing."[392] And

lastly, at Southampton, we hear in 1576 of Nicholas Chemin, who, in

1578, was refused communion at the church on account of his causing some

disturbance in the congregation; of a M. Du Plantin, dit Antoine Ylot,

in 1576, and of a Pierre de la Motte, 'mestre d'escolle,' in 1577.[393]

No doubt most of these schoolmasters taught under the auspices of the

French Churches.

M. Du Plantin was one of a large number of ministers who took refuge in

England, and his school was probably a French Church school, for seven

of his young scholars are mentioned as communicants. Many French pastors

like him, no doubt, took to the teaching profession during their stay in

England, their numbers being far in excess of the ministers needed in

the churches. The famous reformer, John Utenhove of Ghent, was in 1549

tutor to the son of a London gentleman.[394] Valerand Poullain, a

converted priest, who, after being pastor at Strasburg, came to England,

for a time held a similar post in the household of the Earl of

Derby;[395] he afterwards became minister of the French Church at

Glastonbury on the recommendation of Utenhove. Another minister, Jean

Louveau, Sieur de la Porte, spent the time of exile from his Church of

Roche Bernard, after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, in teaching

languages in London, and there were many others in like case.[396]

At Southampton there was a French school of special interest. Its

teacher, like Du Plantin, was a pastor, though the school does not seem

to have had any close connexion with the French Church. This

schoolmaster and divine was the once famous Dr. Adrian Saravia, a

learned refugee from Flanders. He became later Professor of Divinity at

Leyden and an intimate friend of Casaubon; and when he took refuge in

England for a second time in 1587, he enjoyed some ecclesiastical

preferment, and was one of the translators of the Authorised Version of

the Bible.[397] During his first sojourn in England, however, he was

engaged on a more humble task. He first arrived at Southampton in about

1567,[398] after having been for some years headmaster of a grammar

school in Guernsey. Saravia's school at Southampton was limited to

sixteen or twenty youths of good family. It was a rule that all the

scholars should speak French. Any one who used English, "though only a

word," was obliged to wear a fool's cap at meals, and continue to wear

it until he caught another in the same fault.[399] [Header: FRENCH

SCHOOL AT SOUTHAMPTON] Two Englishmen, who later became well known as

translators, acquired their knowledge of French in this school. One was

Joshua Sylvester, famous for his translation of Du Bartas, and the other

Robert Ashley, who turned Louis le Roy's _De la Vicissitude ou Variété

des choses de l'univers_ (1579) into English (1594). Sylvester informs

us that he learnt his French at Saravia's school "in three poor years,

at three times three years old"; "I have never been in France," he

writes to his uncle, William Plumb, "whereby I might become so perfect."

Elsewhere he expresses his affection for his master and his debt of

gratitude to him:

My Saravia, to whose revered name

Mine owes the honour of Du Bartas' fame.

Sylvester did not put his knowledge of French into practice only by

translations into English. He also wrote some original verses in French;

the sonnet with which he offered to James I. his translation of the

works of Du Bartas, a poet for whom the king had a great admiration,

will show his skill in a difficult art:

Voy, sire, ton Saluste habillé en Anglois

(Anglois, encore plus de coeur que de langage:)

Qui, connaissant loyall ton Royale héritage,

En ces beaux Liz Dorez au sceptre des Gaulois

(Comme au vray souverain des vrays subjects françois),

Cy à tes pieds sacrez te fait ton sainct Hommage

(De ton Heur et Grandeur éternal temoinage).

Miroir de touts Heros, miracle de tous Roys,

Voy (sire) ton Saluste, ou (pour le moins) son ombre,

Ou l'ombre (pour le moins) de ses Traicts plus divins

Qui, ores trop noyrcis par mon pinceau trop sombre,

S'esclairciront aux Raiz de tes yeux plus benins.

Doncques d'oeil benin et d'un accueil auguste,

Reçoy ton cher Bartas, et Voy, sire, Saluste.[400]

Another of Sylvester's contemporaries at Saravia's school was Sir Thomas

Lake,[401] who became Secretary of State in the reign of James I., and

is said to have read Latin and French to Queen Elizabeth towards the end

of her reign. His French accent, unlike that of his schoolfellows, seems

to have left much to be desired. In 1612 he incurred much ridicule by

reading the French contract of marriage at the wedding of the Princess

Elizabeth to the Elector with a very bad accent.

Saravia, it seems, encouraged his pupils to attend the French Church.

Two of their names occur in the registers of the Church for the year

1576, viz. Nicholas Essard and Nicholas Carye, both probably Englishmen.

Saravia himself and his wife were also regular attenders; in 1571 and

again in 1576 he stood godfather at baptisms. The latest mention of him

occurs in 1577. Usually the descriptive title "minister" is added after

his name.[402] He is mentioned in the town records under the year 1576

as Master of the Grammar School, and in the following year the town paid

36s. "for four yardes of broade cloth for a gowne for Mr. Adrian Saravia

the schoolmaster at 9s. the yarde."[403] Apparently he had abandoned his

private school, although it is very likely that he continued to take

private pupils into his house, and that the grammar school scholars had

ample opportunity to learn French; but it is hardly probable that he

introduced the language into the grammar school curriculum, where, no

doubt, Latin retained its usual supremacy.[404]

Thus we see that in the England of the sixteenth century French had no

footing in the ordinary schools, but was taught in a growing number of

small private schools kept by Frenchmen, French-speaking refugees from

the Netherlands, and sometimes by Englishmen.

In Scotland, on the other hand, French received more recognition in the

grammar schools, although it did not form part of the ordinary

curriculum, which was based on Latin, as in England. Yet in several

schools its use was distinctly encouraged on lines which, we may

conclude, were followed at Southampton grammar school in Saravia's time.

For instance, the boys of Aberdeen grammar school, in the middle of the

sixteenth century, were enjoined to address each other in French, while

the use of the vernacular was forbidden. In the famous grammar school of

Perth, when John Rowe, the reformer, was master there, and many of the

scholars boarded with him, we are informed that "as they spake nothing

in the schoole and fields but Latine so nothing was spoken in his house

but French." It is of interest to note that in this school French is put

side by side with the ancient tongues, as Palsgrave had wished.

[Header: FRENCH IN THE SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND] After meals a selection from

the Bible was read; if from the Old Testament, in Hebrew, if from the

New Testament, in Latin, Greek, or French.[405]

Turning to the more elementary education, we find French holding a still

larger place in some of the parish schools of Scotland, where it was

taught as part of the regular course by the side of Latin. An

interesting account of one of these schools has been left by James

Melville, in his diary.[406] He records that in 1566, at the age of

seven, he, together with his elder brother, was sent to a school kept by

a kinsman, minister at Logie, a few miles from Montrose. This "guid,

lerned, kind man" attended to the children's education, while his sister

was "a verie loving mother" to them, and to a "guid number of gentle and

honest mens berns of the country about," who also were at the school.

"Ther we lerned," he continues, "to reid the catechisme, prayers and

scripture, to rehers the catechisme and prayers par coeur.... We lerned

ther the Rudiments of the Latin grammar, with the vocables in Latin and

French, also divers speitches in Frenche, with the reading and right

pronunciation of that toung." Melville also assures us that his master

had "a verie guid and profitable form of resolving the authors," and

that he treated them "grammaticallie, bothe according to etymologie and

syntaxe"; but, unfortunately, he gives us no further details on the

teaching of French. After spending five years at this school, where, he

admits, he learnt but little, "for his understanding was yet dark," he

went to the grammar school at Montrose. There, although he had a French

Protestant refugee, Pierre de Marsilliers, to teach him Greek, he does

not appear to have had occasion to continue his study of the French

tongue.

In Scotland, as in England, there were also special schools for teaching

French. For instance, the French schoolmaster Nicholas Langlois, or

Inglishe, who came to England in 1569, and in 1571 was installed in

Blackfriars, London, with his wife and two children,[407] moved to

Scotland in about 1574. He opened a French school in Edinburgh, which

was subsidized by the Town Council, and where he taught French,

arithmetic and accounts until the time of his death in 1611. The Town

Council of Aberdeen also showed itself favourable to French schools; in

1635 it granted to a certain Alexander Rolland a licence "to teach a

French school," and allowed him "for that effect to put up one brod or

signe befoir his schoole door."

Yet in spite of the fact that French received greater recognition in the

schools of Scotland than it did in those of England, there is nothing to

show that the same general interest was taken in the study of the

language. While in England large numbers of grammars and other

text-books were published, there is only one notice of the production of

a similar work in Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth

centuries. This solitary work, which a certain William Nudrye received a

licence to print in 1559,[408] was entitled _Ane A B C for Scottes men

to read the frenche toung, with an exhortation to the nobles of Scotland

to favour their old friends_. The plea that French was learnt by the

help of French grammars imported from France, or on conversational

methods, or yet again in France by direct intercourse with Frenchmen,

may be applied with as much force to England as to Scotland, though it

is not improbable that in Scotland such methods were relied on to a

greater extent; the friendly relations which existed between Scotland

and France from the thirteenth century onwards encouraged large numbers

of Scots to seek instruction in France, just as it led some Frenchmen to

the Scottish centres of learning.[409] French tutors were said to be as

common in Scotland as in England; a Spanish ambassador reported to

Ferdinand and Isabella as early as 1498 that "there is a good deal of

French education in Scotland, and many speak the French language." Yet

the fact remains that while one small French A B C appears to have been

the only work on the language issued in Scotland, there was a whole

series of such works published in England.

FOOTNOTES:

[289] Sources for the History of the Persecutions: L. Batiffol, _The

Century of the Renaissance_, London, 1916; D. C. A. Agnew, _Protestant

Exiles from France_, 3rd ed., 1886, vol. i.; J. S. Burn, _The History of

the French, Walloon, Dutch, and other Foreign Protestant Refugees

settled in England_, London, 1846; S. Smiles, _The Huguenots, their

Settlements, Churches, and Industries in England and Ireland_, London,

1867.

[290] Early refugees also came in small numbers from Italy where the

Inquisition was established in 1542; and a few others from Spain, where

it was set up in 1588. Their arrival in England imparted some slight

impetus to the study of their respective languages; cp. F. Watson, _The

Beginnings of the Teaching of Modern Subjects in England_, London, 1909,

chapters xii. and xiii.

[291] _Huguenot Society Publications_, xv., 1898; F. W. Cross, _History

of the Walloon and Huguenot Church at Canterbury_ (Introduction).

[292] L. Humphrey, _The Nobles or of Nobilitye_, London, 1563, 2nd book.

[293] See A. Rahlenbeck, "Les Réfugiés belges au 16me siècle en

Angleterre," in the _Revue Trimestrielle_, Oct. 1865.

[294] The following numbers show the proportion of the Netherlanders to

the French: in 1567, 3838 Flemish to 512 French; in 1586, 5225 to 1119.

[295] _Huguenot Soc. Pub._ i., 1887-88; O. J. W. Moens, _The Walloons

and their Church at Norwich_, ch. ix.

[296] W. Besant, _London in the Time of the Tudors_, London, 1904, pp.

80, 200, 203. The population of London is taken as about 120,000.

[297] _Hug. Soc. Pub._ x., 1900-1908, 4 parts.

[298] _Hug. Soc. Pub._ viii., 1893: _Letters of Denization and Acts of

Naturalisation for Aliens in England_, 1509-1603, ed. W. Page.

[299] Naturalization by Act of Parliament, which gave additional rights,

such as that of succession to and bequeathment of real property, was in

general of more advantage to Englishmen born abroad than to foreigners.

[300] On the French churches in England, see F. de Schickler, _Les

Églises du refuge en Angleterre_, 3 tom., Paris, 1892.

[301] The first ministers appointed to the French church were François

Pérussel, dit la Rivière, and Richard Vauville. Perlin visited the

French church: "La prechoit un nommé maistre Françoys homme blond, et un

autre nommé maistre Richard, homme ayant barbe noire" (_Description des

royaulmes d'Angleterre et d'Escosse_, Paris, 1558, p. 11). Perlin was

one of the few Frenchmen who came to England at this time.

[302] _Op. cit._ p. 11. Perlin also says that the English tried several

times to set fire to the French church.

[303] See accounts in Rye, _England as seen by Foreigners_.

[304] This was naturally not without exceptions. For instance, Sir

Nicholas Bacon, father of Francis, was noted for his support of the

attempt to drive all the French from the country after the St.

Bartholomew massacre (_Archaeologia_, xxxvi. p. 339).

[305] F. Foster Watson, "Religious Refugees and English Education,"

_Proceedings of the Huguenot Society_, London, 1911.

[306] _The Nobles or of Nobilitye_, _ut supra_.

[307] _Athenae Cantab._ ii. 274. A certain L. T. attacked Baro about a

sermon of his on the text in the third chapter of the Epistle to the

Romans, twenty-eighth verse (Brit. Mus. Catalogue).

[308] _Hug. Soc. Pub._ x. pt. iii. p. 360.

[309] Ellis, _Original Letters_, 1st series, i. pp. 341-3.

[310] _Arte of Rhetorique_ (1553), ed. G. H. Mair, 1909, p. 13.

[311] _Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Autobiography_, ed. Sir S. Lee (2nd

ed. 1906), p. 37, n.

[312] _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._, xiv. pt. ii. No.

601; and _Works_, Parker Society, i. p. 396.

[313] E. J. Furnivall, _Manners and Meals in Olden Time_, pp. ix et seq.

[314] Ascham, _Toxophilus_, quoted by Nichols: _Literary Remains ..._,

p. xl.

[315] _Reliquiae Wottoniae_, London, 1657 ("Life of Sir Henry Wotton"),

n.p.

[316] J. Payne Collier, in _Archaeologia_, vol. xxxvi. pp. 339 _et seq._

[317] _Queene Elizabeth's Academy_, ed. Furnivall, Early English Text

Society, 1869.

[318] This purpose is expressly stated in the earliest grammar for

teaching Italian to the English, dated 1550: _The Principal Rules of

Italian Grammar, with a Dictionary for the better Understandynge of

Boccace, Petrarcha, and Dante_ (also in 1562 and 1567). Cp. F. Watson,

_Modern Subjects_, chapter xii.

[319] Cp. F. Watson, _Modern Subjects_, chapter xiii.; and J. G.

Underhill, _Spanish Literature in England of the Tudors_, New York,

1899.

[320] _Hug. Soc. Pub._ viii.: List of Denizations.

[321] _Dict. Nat. Biog._, ad nom.

[322] _Thesaurus Linguae Latinae_, 1532, the first of Latin-French

dictionaries.

[323] Printed by T. Wolfe.

[324] The first French grammar for teaching French to the Germans,

mentioned in Stengel's _Chronologisches Verzeichniss französischer

Grammatiken_ (Oppeln, 1890), was the work of a Frenchman Du Vivier,

schoolmaster at Cologne, and was published in 1566.

[325] Cp. Ph. Sheavyn, _The Literary Profession in the Elizabethan Age_,

Manchester, 1909, chap. i.

[326] _De Republica Anglorum_, ed. L. Alston, Camb., 1906, p. 139.

[327] C. W. Wallace, "New Shakespeare Discoveries," _Harper's Magazine_,

1910, and _University Studies_, Nebraska, U.S.A.; Sir S. Lee, _Life of

Shakespeare ..._, new ed., London, 1915, pp. 17, 276.

[328] Unfortunately the registers of the Threadneedle Street Church,

previous to 1600, have been lost. It would have been interesting to have

found Shakespeare brought into contact with this church by his Huguenot

friends.

[329] A list of French words and phrases used by Shakespeare is given in

A. Schmidt's _Shakespeare Lexicon_, 2 vols., Berlin, 1902, p. 1429.

[330] Act I. Sc. 4; Act II. Sc. 3; and other Scenes in which the Doctor

appears.

[331] Act III. Sc. 6; Act IV. Sc. 2, Sc. 4, Sc. 5; Act V. Sc. 2.

[332] Act III. Sc. 4.

[333] Act III. Sc. 6. The quotation from 2 Peter ii. 22 bears closest

resemblance to the edition of the Bible issued at Geneva, 1550; H. R. D.

Anders, _Shakespeare's Books_, Berlin, 1904, p. 203.

[334] Often what appear to be mistakes to-day are due to change in

pronunciation; as when Pistol takes the French soldier's "bras" ('arm')

for English 'brass,' a possibility at this period when the final _s_ was

still sounded (Thurot, _Prononciation française_, ii. pp. 35-36; Anders,

_op. cit._ pp. 50-51.)

[335] Anders, _op. cit._ p. 51 _et seq._

[336] Cp. A. F. Leach, _English Grammar Schools of the Reformation_,

1896: F. Watson, _The English Grammar Schools up to 1660_, Cambridge,

1908, and _The Curriculum and Text-Books of English Schools in the First

Half of the Seventeenth Century_, Bibliog. Soc., 1906.

[337] The author of the _Institution of a Gentleman_, 1555 and 1560,

mentions the "knowledge of tongues as necessary to gentlemen," but he

does not seem to have meant modern languages. William Kemp, in his

_Education of Children in Learning_, 1588, names the ancient tongues,

especially Latin, and other writers do the same. For a list of similar

works, cp. Watt, _Bibliotheca Britannica_, under "Education."

[338] Cp. J. W. Adamson, _Pioneers in Modern Education_, Cambridge,

1905, pp. 178 _sqq._

[339] _Sidney Papers_, ed. A. Collins; _Letters and Memorials of State_,

vol. i. p. 8.

[340] E. Arber, _Transcript of the Registers of the Company of

Stationers, 1554-1640_, v. p. 162.

[341] _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Addenda, 1580-1625_, p. 413.

[342] _Handlists of Books printed by London Printers, 1501-56_, Bibliog.

Soc., 1913: Grafton, p. 13.

[343] There is no trace of Du Ploich's name in any of the registers of

aliens published by the Hug. Soc. The only trace of a name resembling

his is that of Peter de Ploysse, butcher, in Breadstreet Ward (Lay

Subsidies, 1549).

[344] F. Watson, _Grammar Schools_, pp. 69 _et seq._

[345] Arber, _Stationers' Register_, i. p. 126.

[346] Sig. A-N in fours.

[347] French in Roman type, English in black letter.

[348] Especially the Lambeth fragment, and the _Introductorie_ of Duwes.

[349] Sig. A-I in fours. Like the first edition, this is preserved in a

unique volume in the Brit. Mus. The copy of Kingston's edition is not

complete, wanting all before signature A3.

[350] Brit. Mus. Royal MSS. 16, E xxxvii., 63 quarto leaves.

[351] Edward had the MS. placed in his Library. Nichols, _Literary

Remains_, p. cccxxxiv.

[352] Royal MSS. 16, E xxiii., 29 quarto leaves.

[353] "Et je ne suis pas si presumptueux de vouloir dire que celuy livre

je soye suffissant a translater du tout en englois, a cause que je ne

l'ay de nature. Mais a mon simple entendement, ayant l'opportunité et le

loisir, l'ensuivray au plus pres que ie pourray."

[354] _Returns of Aliens in London_, Hug. Soc. Pub. x.

[355] _Lists of Denizations_, Hug. Soc. Pub., ad nom. (a Sancto

Vinculo). Other details of his life are given in Miss L. E. Farrer's _La

vie et les oeuvres de Claude de Sainliens_, Paris, 1907.

[356] Yet in this work Holyband refers several times to the necessity of

having a good tutor.

[357] Farrer, _op. cit._ p. 21.

[358] As in the _French Schoolemaister_, French and English are arranged

on opposite pages, the French in Roman characters, and the English in

black letter.

[359] Des escholiers et l'eschole--Pour voyageurs--Du Logis, Du Poidz,

Vendre et acheter, Pour marchans.

[360] Sylvius (1530) had placed a small vertical line over final

unsounded consonants.

[361] Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt. iii. p. 400. The name John Henricke occurs

frequently in the registers of aliens. There was a John Henryke, a

"Dutchman," who, in 1567, was living in Broadstreet Ward, and had been

three weeks in England; and, in 1571, in St. Mary Alchurch Parish, when

he is said to have been five years in England, and to be a native of

Barowe in Brabant and nineteen years old. In 1582 one of the same name

was living in Blackfriars and had two servants (Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt i.

p. 322; pt. ii. pp. 91, 253). In 1579 a John Hendricke from the dominion

of the Bishop of Liége received letters of denization (Hug. Soc. Pub.

viii. ad nom.). It does not seem likely that Holyband employed one of

the Walloons, whose accent he taught his pupils to avoid.

[362] Foster, _Alumni Oxonienses_, ad nom.

[363] Farrer, _op. cit._ p. 1.

[364] C. Livet, _La Grammaire française et les grammairiens du 16e

siècle_, Paris, 1859, pp. 500 _et seq._

[365] For his sources, etc., see Farrer, _op. cit._ pp. 73 _et seq._

[366] Schickler, _Églises du Refuge_, i. p. 358.

[367] _Dict. Nat. Biog._, ad nom.

[368] Farrer, _op. cit._ p. 16. Miss Farrer suggests that Holyband was

connected with the family of Thuillier de Saint Lyens of Moulins (_op.

cit._ pp. 8, 9).

[369] Latin poem in the _Campo di Fior_, 1583.

[370] In the _Schoolemaister_, on the contrary, the exercises follow the

rules, "to the end that I may teache by experience and practice that

which I have shewed by arte."

[371] The philological side of Holyband's work has been fully treated by

Farrer, _op. cit._

[372] In the _Schoolemaister_. The rules of the _French Littleton_ are

much the same, only less quaintly worded.

[373] Holyband was the author of a work for teaching Italian: _The

Italian Schoolmaster_, 1583, and again in 1591, 1597, and 1608.

[374] Schickler, _Églises du Refuge_, iii. pp. 167-171. The members of

the Church attended to the interests of the schools, and donations were

made from time to time. Cp. for instance, Schickler, _op. cit._ i. p.

123.

[375] _The Scholemaster_, ed. Arber, 1869, p. 82.

[376] Schickler, _op. cit._ i. p. 211.

[377] _Registers of Threadneedle Street, London_, Hug. Soc. Pub. ix.

[378] _Registre de l'Église wallonne de Southampton_, Hug. Soc. Pub.

iv., 1890. In 1584 three baptisms were performed by Mr. Hopkins, an

English minister.

[379] _Registre de l'Église de Cantorbéry_, Hug. Soc. Pub. v. pt. i.,

1890.

[380] W. J. C. Moens (_The Walloons and their Church at Norwich_, Hug.

Soc. Pub. i., 1887-8, p. 58) enumerates eighteen sons of strangers at

Norwich who went to the Grammar School and thence to Cambridge.

[381] Schickler, _op. cit._ i. p. 106.

[382] _Ibid._ p. 346.

[383] Schickler, _op. cit._ i. p. 281; F. W. Cross, _History of the

Walloon and Huguenot Church at Cantuar_, Hug. Soc. Pub. xv., 1898, p.

15.

[384] W. J. Hardy, _Foreign Refugees at Rye_, Proceedings Hug. Soc. ii.,

1887-8, p. 574.

[385] Cross, _op. cit._ p. 53.

[386] Hardy, _op. cit._ p. 570 (cp. Durrant Cooper, _Refugees in

Sussex_, Sussex Archaeological Collections, xiii., 1861). The name is

here written John Robone.

[387] F. W. Cross, _ut supra_.

[388] Cross, _ut supra_; Schickler, _op. cit._ i. p. 283.

[389] Hug. Soc. Pub. x.

[390] Hardy, _op. cit._ p. 572.

[391] Moens, _The Walloons and their Church at Norwich_; W. Durrant

Cooper, _Lists of Foreign Protestants and Aliens resident in England,

1618-1688_, Camden Soc., 1862.

[392] G. H. Overend, _Strangers at Dover_, p. 166; and D. Cooper, _Lists

of Foreign Protestants_.

[393] _Registre de l'Église wallonne de Southampton_, Hug. Soc. Pub. iv.

[394] Schickler, _op. cit._ i. 25.

[395] _Ibid._ i. 59.

[396] For example, John Veron, J. R. Chevallier, mentioned above.

[397] _Dict. Nat. Biog._, ad nom.

[398] In 1568 letters of denization were granted him (Hug. Soc. Pub.

viii., ad nom.).

[399] MS. Memoir of Robert Ashley (Sloane, 2105); cp. Sylvester's

_Works_, ed. Grosart, 1880, i. p. x.

[400] _Works_, ed. Grosart, i. p. 4. See also i. p. lvii, and ii. pp.

52, 301, 322.

[401] 1567?-1630. _Dict. Nat. Biog._, ad nom.

[402] _Registre de l'Église wallonne de Southampton_, Hug. Soc. Pub.

iv., 1890.

[403] J. S. Davids, _History of Southampton_, Southampton, 1883, p. 311.

[404] Another Fleming, Thomas Hylocomius, a native of Brabant, was

master of St. Alban's Grammar School, 1570-1596 (Watson, _Protestant

Refugees_, pp. 137-139). But there is nothing to show that he encouraged

the study of French.

[405] Authorities for the use of French in Scotch schools are: J.

Strong, _Secondary Education in Scotland_, Oxford, 1909, pp. 44 _et

seq._, 76, 142; T. P. Young, _Histoire de l'enseignement primaire et

secondaire en Écosse_, Paris, 1907, pp. 12 _et seq._, pp. 64 _et seq._;

J. Grant, _Burgh Schools of Scotland_, London and Glasgow, 1876, pp. 64,

404; F. Michel, _Les Écossais en France et les Français en Écosse_,

1862, ii. p. 78.

[406] _Autobiography and Diary of Mr. James Melville, minister of

Kilrenny and Professor of Theology in the University of St. Andrews_,

ed. R. Pitcairn (Wodrow Soc., Edinburgh, 1842), pp. 16 _et seq._

[407] His daughter Esther, who married a Scotch minister Kello, became

famous for her calligraphy. Some of her work, preserved in the Bodleian,

was admired by Hearne (_Collections and Recollections_, Oxf. Hist. Soc.,

1885, i. p. 38).

[408] D. Murray, _Some Early Grammars, etc., in use in Scotland_, in the

Proceedings of the Royal Philos. Soc. of Glasgow, xxxvii. pp. 267-8. In

the _List of Books printed in Scotland before 1700_, by H. G. Aldis

(Edinburgh Bibliog. Soc., 1904), there is not one book on the French

language amongst the 3919 titles recorded.

[409] Pasquier, _Letters_, Amsterdam, 1723, lib. i. p. 5.